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TAHITI 

THE 

ISLAND PARADISE 



BY 

NICHOLAS SENN, M. D., Ph. D., LL. D., C. M. 

Professor of Surgery in the University of Chicago 

Professor and Head of the Surgical Department in Rush Medical College 

Surgeon-in-Chief of St. Joseph's Hospital 

Attending Surgeon of the Presbyterian Hospital 

Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of the Operating Staff with the Army in 

the Field during the Spanish-American War 

Surgeon-General of Illinois 



WITH FIFTY HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS 



CHICAGO 

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY 



. S3& 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

MAR 31 '906 

/^Copyright Entry 
CLASS Ot' XXc, No. 

'copy b. 



Copyright, 1906, 

BY 

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY 



PREFACE 

The far-away little island of Tahiti is the gem 
of the South Pacific Ocean. If any place in this 
world deserves to be called a paradise, Tahiti 
can make this claim. This charming spot in the 
wide expanse of the peaceful ocean has attrac- 
tions which we look for in vain anywhere else. 
From a distance, the grandeur of its frowning 
cliffs rivets the eye, and, in coming nearer, its 
tropic beauty charms the visitor and imprints 
upon his memory pictures single and panoramic 
that neither distance nor time can efface. The 
scenic beauty of this island is unsurpassed. The 
calming air, redolent with the perfume of fragrant 
flowers of exquisite beauty, on the seashore, in 
the valleys and on the precipitous mountain 
sides; the luxuriant vegetation; the forest fruit- 
gardens and the sweet music of the surf remind 
one of the original habitation of man. The 
natives, a childlike people, friendly, courteous 
and hospitable, are the happiest people on earth, 
free from care and worries which in other less 
favored parts of the world make life a drudgery. 

Tahiti is the only place in the world where 
the people are not obliged to work. The forests 
furnish bread and fruit and the sea teems with 
fish. The climate is so mild that the wearing of 
clothing is rather a matter of choice than of 

5 



6 PREFACE 

necessity, and the bamboo huts that can be made 
with little or no expense in half a day with 
the willing help of the neighbors, meet all the 
requirements of a home. The stranger will find 
here throughout the year a climate and sur- 
roundings admirably adapted to calm his nervous 
system and procure repose and sleep. 

In writing this little book I have made free use 
of the "Memoirs of Arrii Taimai E., Marama 
of Eimeo, Tcrii rere of Tooarai, Terii nui of 
Tahiti, Tauraatua I Amo" (Paris, 1901). The 
authoress was the mother of Tati, one of the 
most influential present chiefs of Tahiti, and, as 
her several titles show, she was of noble birth. 
She was an eye-witness of many of the most 
stirring political events in the history of the 
island. Only fifty copies of this book were 
printed and only three remained in possession 
of her son. He was kind enough to give me 
one of them, which, after making liberal use 
of it, I presented to the library of the University 
of Chicago, through its late lamented president, 
Dr. W. R. Harper. I also acknowledge my in- 
debtedness to the works of Captain Cook, "A 
Voyage to the Pacific" (London, 1784), and to 
the book of Baron Ferd. von Mueller, "Select 
Extra-tropical Plants" (Melbourne, 1885). 

N. Senn. 
Chicago, 1906. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Royal Family Frontispiece 

Harbor and Principal Port of Papeete. . .Facing Page 9 
Lighthouse, and Cook Monument at 

Haapape " " 14 

KingPomareV " " 18- 

PomarelV " " 22- 

View of Moorea " " 26 

Tahiti from the Harbor of Papeete " "30 

In the Shadow of the Palm Forest " " 34 

The S. S. "Mariposa" Leaving the Harbor 

of Papeete " " 38 ' 

Royal Palace (Headquarters of the Gov- 
ernor) " " 42 

Avenue of Purranuia, Papeete " " 48 

Native Village by the Sea " " 52 

Native Hut close by the Sea " " 56 

Prince Hinoi " " 60 

A Tahitian Home " " 64 

Tahitian Bamboo House " " 68 

Tomb of the Last King of Tahiti, 

Pomare V " "74 

Tahitian Women in Ancient Native Dress " " 78- 

Tahiti Girls in Native Dress " " 84 

A Group of Native Girls " " 88 

Native Girl in Modern Dress " " 94 

Tahitian Ladies in Zulu Dress " " 98 

7 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Native Musicians and Native Dance . . .1 
Tahitian Girl in Native Festive Dress.. 

At Home 

A Home by the Sea — Raiatea 

Fisherman's Home 

Native Settlement 

Group of Tahitian Children 

A Case of Far-Advanced Leprosy 

Affecting All Limbs 

A Leper of Tahiti 

Military Hospital in Papeete 

Tahitian Fruit Vender 

Preparing Breadfruit 

Sapodilla 

Copra Establishment 

Government Wharf — Papeete 

Corner in Papeete 

A View of Fautahua Valley 

Avenue of Fautahua 

Cascade of Fautahua 

Bridge across Fautahua near Waterfall 
Lagoon and Reef on the Ninety-Mile 

Road 

On the Ninety-Mile Road 

Fishermen of Papeete 

Tahitian Canoe with Outrigger 

Two Papaya Trees 

Picking Cocoanuts 

Alligator Pear Tree 

Ancient Masked Warriors 



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TAHITI 

THE ISLAND PARADISE 



When the Almighty Architect of the universe 
created the earth we inhabit, He manifested His 
wisdom, goodness and foresight in adapting, in 
a most admirable manner, the soil, climate, and 
animal and vegetable life for the habitation of 
man, the supreme work of creation. By the 
gradual and progressive geographical distri- 
bution of man over the surface of the earth, he 
has become habituated to diverse climates and 
environments, and has found conditions most 
congenial to his comfort and the immediate 
necessities of life. 

In cold, laborious climes, the wintry North 
Brings her undaunted, hardy warriors forth, 
In body and in mind untaught to yield, 
Stubborn of soul, and steady in the field ; 
While Asia's softer climate, form'd to please, 
Dissolves her sons in indolence and ease. 

Lucanus. 

It required centuries for the Esquimau to be- 
come acclimated to the inhospitable polar regions, 
and make them his favorite abode ; the people 
who drifted toward the equator gradually be- 
came inured to the climate of the tropics and 



10 TAHITI THE ISLAND TARADISE 

accustomed to the manner of living in countries 
where the perennial heat paralyzes the physical 
and mental energies, and undermines the health 
of strangers coming from a more temperate 
climate. Nature has made ample provision for 
man in all habitable parts of the earth. The 
regions of ice and snow are inhabited by fur- 
bearing animals, and, at certain seasons of the 
year, are frequented by a large variety of aquatic 
birds in great abundance, which supply the natives 
with food and clothing, while in the tropics, man 
has little or no need of fuel and clothing, and, 
with very little exertion, he can subsist on the 
fruits of the forests, and on the food so liberally 
supplied by the sea. 

The intensity of the struggle for life increases 
with the distance north and south from the tem- 
perate zones, where climatic conditions necessi- 
tate active exercise and where the necessities of 
life can only be obtained by the hardest kind of 
labor. The climate of the tropics, on the other 
hand, is very generous to man. The forests are 
rich in fruityielding trees which Nature plants, 
which receive little or no care, yet which bear 
fruit throughout the year. Wherever the cocoa- 
palm grows in abundance, there can be no famine, 
because this tree yields a rich harvest of nutritious 
fruit from one end of the year to the other with- 
out fail, as it is never affected to any considerable 
extent by drouth and other conditions which so 



TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE H 

often bring failure to the orchards in more tem- 
perate climates. The continuous summer and the 
wonderful fertility of the soil in tropic and sub- 
tropic countries reward richly the labor of the 
husbandman by two and sometimes three har- 
vests a year, as nature's forces require no rest, no 
slumber there. 

Life in a changeable, severe climate is full of 
hardships ; in the tropics, of ease and leisure. The 
nearer we come to the tropics, the closer w r e ap- 
proach the conditions of primitive man. The 
necessities of life increase as we recede on either 
side of the equatorial line. The dreamy, easy, 
care-free life in the tropics is in strong contrast 
with the severe and arduous struggles for exist- 
ence in countries less favored by the resources 
of nature. 

Among the trees in the Garden of Eden, the 
palm tree was undoubtedly the most beautiful, 
and it remains to-day the queen of the forests of 
the seacoast in the tropics. The palm-clad isles 
of the South Sea bear a closer resemblance to the 
description of the Garden of Eden than any other 
of the many parts of the world that I have ever 
seen; and of these, Tahiti is a real paradise on 
earth. There is no country nor other isle where 
Nature has been so liberal in the distribution of 
her gifts. No other island can compare in natural 
beauty with Tahiti, the gem of the South Pacific 
Ocean. It is the island where life is free of care. 



12 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

It is the island where the natives are fed, clothed 
and housed by nature It is the island where man 
is born, eats his daily bread without being forced 
to labor, sleeps and dreams away his life free from 
worry, and enjoys the foretaste of the eternal 
paradise before he dies. It is the island which 
must have been born 

In the morning of the world, 

When earth was nigher heaven than now. 

Browning. 

It is the island of which the poet must have 
been musing when he wrote : 

Amid an isle around whose rocky shore 
The forests murmur and the surges roar, 
A goddess guardj in her enchanted dome. 

Pope. 



THE ISLAND OF TAHITI 

About three thousand six hundred miles south 
by southwest from San Francisco are the Society 
Islands, a small archipelago in the South Pacific 
Ocean, in latitude 16 to 18 degrees south, longi- 
tude 148 to 155 degrees west. Captain Cook 
named this group in honor of the Royal Society 
of London. The largest two of these islands, 
Tahiti and Moorea, are of volcanic origin, moun- 
tainous and heavily timbered; the remaining 
islands are small, low, of coral origin, and are 
called atolls. In approaching the archipelago 
from San Francisco, a few of these palm-fringed 
atoll islands come first into view, forming a 
pleasing foreground to the rugged mountains of 
Tahiti and its smaller neighbor, Moorea, which 
are sighted almost at the same time. After a 
voyage over the desert ocean of thirteen days 
(all this time out of sight of land), to gaze on 
the most beautiful islands of this group is a 
source of exquisite pleasure. 

Sea-girt isles, 
That like to rich and various gems, inlay 
The unadorned bosom of the deep. 

Milton. 

The South Pacific Ocean is the natural home 
of the coral polyps, which are great island- 
builders, using the volcanic material as a foun- 

13 



14 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

dation for the coral superstructure. As these 
minute builders can live only in shallow water, 
they use submerged mountain peaks for their 
foundations, converting them into low atolls, and 
building reefs around the base of the high vol- 
canic islands. Most of the Society Islands are 
of coral formation perched upon submerged 
mountain summits. The island of Tahiti is small, 
of little commercial interest, and hence it is com- 
paratively unknown to the masses of the people. 
Very few who left the schoolroom twenty-five 
years ago would be able to locate it without con- 
sulting a geography, and many have even for- 
gotten the name. The children fresh from school 
recall it in connection with the difficulty they 
encountered in finding the little dot in the great, 
trackless South Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a 
group of still smaller specks, representing the 
remainder of the little archipelago to which it 
belongs. 

Tahiti is nearly four thousand miles distant 
from San Francisco, in a southwesterly direction, 
below the equator, in latitude 17, hence in a 
similar latitude to that of the Hawaiian Islands, 
which are situated about the same distance north 
of the equator. 

I had heard much of the natural beauty of 
this far-off island and its interesting inhabitants, 
and decided to spend my midwinter vacation in 
1904 in paying it a visit. Formerly the passage 




LIGHTHOUSE AND COOK MONUMENT AT 
HAAPAPE 



THE ISLAND OF TAHITI 15 

from San Francisco had to be made by a 
schooner, and required several months. For 
the last four years the island has been made 
readily accessible by a regular steamer service. 
The staunch steamer, Mariposa, of the Oceanic 
Steamship Company of San Francisco, sails from 
that port every thirty-six days, makes the trip in 
twelve or thirteen days, and remains at Papeete, 
the capital of the island, four days, which give 
the visitor ample time to visit the most interesting 
points and make the desired observations. The 
track of the steamer is over that part of the 
Pacific Ocean which is comparatively free from 
violent storms, between the storm centers east 
and west from it. The prevailing trade-winds 
cool off the tropical heat in the vicinity of the 
equator, rendering the voyage at all seasons of 
the year a pleasant one. The steamer has a 
tonnage of three thousand tons, the service is ex- 
cellent, and the table all that could be desired. I 
know of no better way to spend a short mid- 
winter vacation than a trip to Tahiti, the island 
paradise, the most interesting and beautiful of all 
islands. 

January and February are the months when 
the fruit is most abundant, and the climate most 
agreeable. The twenty-five days of voyage on 
the ocean, the few days on shore occupied by a 
study of its natives, their customs, manner of 
living, by visits to the various points of historic 



16 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

interest, and by the greatest of all genuine pleas- 
ures, the contemplation of nature's choicest exhi- 
bitions in the tropics, are all admirably adapted to 
procure physical rest and pleasure, and pleasing 
as well as profitable mental occupation. A trip to 
Tahiti will prove of particular benefit to those 
who are in need of mental rest. The absence of 
anything like severe storms on this trip should be 
a special inducement, for those who are subject 
to seasickness, to travel there. 

The steamer is well adapted for service in the 
tropics, the cabins are roomy and comfortable. 
Capt. J. Rennie is one of the most experienced 
commanders of the fleet, a good disciplinarian 
and devoted to the safety and comfort of his pas- 
sengers. While the steamer can accommodate 
seventy cabin passengers, the number seldom 
exceeds twenty-five. The tourist therefore 
escapes crowding and noise, so trying to the 
nerves, and so common on the transatlantic 
steamers and other more frequented ocean routes. 



OCEAN VOYAGE 

The steamer Mariposa leaves the San Francisco 
wharf at eleven o'clock a. m., — an excellent time 
for the passengers to enjoy the beauties of the 
bay and the Golden Gate, to see the rugged coast 
of California gradually disappear in the distance 
during the course of the afternoon, and to prepare 
himself for the first night's sleep in the cradle 
of the deep. The second day out, and until the 
mountains of Tahiti come in sight, the traveler 
will see nothing but the floating tavern in which 
he lives, its inmates, the inky blue ocean, the sky, 
clouds, and, occasionally, sea-gulls, and isolated 
schools of flvinof fish. The steamer's track is 
over an unfrequented part of the ocean. The 
passenger looks in vain for a mast or white- 
winged sails, or puffs of smoke in the distance, 
sights so often seen on more frequented ocean 
highways. The steamer crosses an ocean desert 
little known, but out of reach of the violent 
storms, so frequent near the coasts, on both sides 
free from reefs and rocks, as this part of the 
ocean is of unusual depth, amounting in many 
places to three miles. Stranding of the vessel, 
or collision with others, the greatest dangers in- 
cident to sea travel, are therefore reduced to a 
minimum on this route. Although this course i3 
an unusually lonely one, the interested observer 

2 17 



18 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

will find much to see and enjoy. The vast 
expanse of the ocean impresses the traveler from 
day to day and grows upon him as the distance 
from the coast increases. 

Illimitable ocean! without bound, 

Without dimensions, where length, breadth, and height, 

And time, and place, are lost. 

Milton. 

The boundless ocean desert, mirror-like when 
at rest, clothed by gentle ripples and ceaseless 
wavelets when fanned by the trade-winds, is a 
picture of peace and contentment. 

The winds with wonder whist, 
Smoothly the waters kiss'd, 
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean. 

Milton. 

But even here in the most peaceful part of the 
Pacific, when angered by the fury of a heavy 
squall, a diminutive storm agitates the waters into 
foam-crested waves, which, for a short time at 
least, impart to the ship an intoxicated gait. The 
effect of sun, moon and starlight on the smooth, 
undulating, heaving, billowing, tossing, storm- 
beaten surface of the ocean, is marvelous. When 
all is quiet, and the passenger is only conscious of 
the vibratory movements imparted to the ship by 
the ceaseless action of the faithful screw, and the 
lights of heaven are veiled by a curtain of dark 
clouds, the beautiful blue gives way to a sombre 
black. When the tropic sun shines with all his 




KING POMARE V. 



OCEAN VOYAGE 19 

force, the color of the water fairly vies with the 
deep blue of the sky, and the nearer we approach 
our destination, the tints of blue grow deeper and 
deeper, until at last they are of perfect indigo. 

The moon and starlight have a magic effect on 
the surface of the water. The long evenings give 
the passengers the exquisite pleasure of watching 
the journey of the moon across the starlit heaven- 
ly dome, growing, night after night, from a mere 
sickle to her full majestic size, and of observing 
the effects of the gradually increasing intensity of 
the light issuing from the welcome visitor of the 
night, on the glassy mirror of water beneath. 
The star-bedecked pale dome of the tropic sky 
is, in itself, a picture that rivets the attention of 
the traveler who loves and studies the book of 
nature. The short twilight over, "these blessed 
candles of the night" (Shakespeare) are lighted, 
and send their feeble light down upon the bosom 
of the ocean. 

If the sky is clear, the illuminating power of 
the moon at its best, and the ocean calm, its 
surface is transformed into a boundless sheet of 
silver. This magic effect of moonlight on the 
surface of the sleeping ocean is magnified by 
passing fleecy, or dark, storm-threatening clouds. 
The fleeting, fleecy clouds often veil, only in part, 
the lovely, full face of the moon, and through 
Assures, the rays of light issue, and, falling upon 
the water, are reflected in the form of silvery 



20 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

patches or pathways, corresponding in size and 
outline with the temporary window in the passing 
cloud. It is when the moon is about to be hidden 
behind a dark, impenetrable veil that the spec- 
tator may expect to see the most wonderful dis- 
play of pictures above and around him. As the 
cloud approaches the moon, the blue background 
deepens in color and brilliancy and when its dark 
margin touches the rim of the moon it is changed 
into a fringe of gold or silver ; with the disappear- 
ance of the moon behind the cloud the fringe of 
the latter is rudely torn away, the water beneath 
is robbed of its carpet of silver, and the capti- 
vated observer is made aware that the darkness 
of night is upon him. But the gloom is of short 
duration. A break in the cloud serves as a 
window through which the moon peeps down, 
with a most bewitching grace, upon the dark 
surface beneath. The prelude to this exhibition 
appears on the side of the temporary frame, in 
the form of a silver lining which broadens with 
the moving cloud ; now the rim of the moon 
comes into view ; slowly, the veil is completely 
thrown aside, and Luna's calm, pale, smiling, full 
face makes its appearance, enclosed in a dark 
frame with silver margins, while, more than 
likely, she will be attended by a few brilliant 
stars, thus completing the charms and beauty 
of the picture suspended from the heavenly 
dome. All genuine pleasures of this world are 



OCEAN VOYAGE 21 

of short duration ; so with this nocturnal picture 
painted on the clouds and water. The silver rim 
on one side of the frame of clouds disappears, the 
dark margin increases in width, the moon is ob- 
scured, and only a few flickering stars remain 
fixed in the picture. 

Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of 
nature that overcomes our little anxieties and doubts : 
the sight of the deep blue sky, and the clustering stars 
above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind. 

Jonathan Edwards. 

In midocean is the place to view at greatest 
advantage the gorgeous sunrise and sunset of the 
tropics. To see the sun disappear in the distance, 
where the dome of the sky seems to rest on the 
bosom of the ocean, is a scene which no pen can 
describe, and which no artist's brush has ever 
reproduced in any degree comparable with the 
grand reality. The canvas of the sky behind the 
setting glowing orb, and the passing clouds in 
front, above, and beneath it, are painted succes- 
sively by the invisible brush in the unseen hands 
of the departing artist in colors and shades of 
colors that may well laugh to scorn any and all 
attempts at description or reproduction. The 
gilded horizon serves as a fitting background for 
the retreating monarch of the day, and the slowly 
moving canvas of clouds transmits his last mes- 
sages in all the hues of red, crimson, pink, and 
yellow. To observe this immense panorama 



22 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

stretched from north to south, and projected 
toward the east, resting on the silvery surface of 
the rippling ocean, with the ever-varying colors 
of the slowly moving clouds, as seen evening 
after evening on the Tahitian trip, leaves impres- 
sions which time can not erase from memory. 

Night on board the Mariposa has additional 
attractions for the passengers who appreciate the 
wonders and beauties of nature. When the night 
is dark, they find a place in the stern of the ship, 
lean against the taffrail, and watch the water 
agitated into a diminutive storm by the powerful 
screw. There one beholds a sight sufficiently at- 
tractive and interesting to keep him spellbound 
for an hour or more. The indolent, phosphores- 
cent sea-amceba has been roused into action by 
the merciless revolutions of the motor of the ship, 
and emits its diamond sparks of phosphorescent 
light. Thousands of these little beings discharge 
their magic light in the white veil of foam which 
adorns the crests of the storm-beaten surface, in 
the form of a narrow track as far as the eye can 
reach in the darkness of the night. The flashes 
of light thrown off by these minute, to the naked 
eye invisible, inhabitants of the sea, when angered 
by the rude action of the screw, appear and dis- 
appear in the twinkling of an eye. When these 
tiny, light-producing animals are numerous, as 
is the case in the equatorial region, the snow- 
white veil of foam is richly decorated with dia- 




POMARE IV. 
The Queen of the Story of Ariitaimai of Tahiti 



OCEAN VOYAGE 23 

mond sparks which, when they coalesce, form 
flames of fire in the track of the vessel. 

The ocean voyage has occasionally still another 
surprise in store for the traveler when he reaches 
the South Pacific. A squall is a tempest on a 
small scale. We see in the distance a dark cloud 
of immense size which seems to ride slowly over 
the surface of the smooth sea. The gentle breeze 
gives way to a strong wind, the surface of the 
water becomes ruffled with whitecaps, the dark- 
ness increases, and at irregular intervals the 
threatening, angry cloud is lighted up by chains 
of lightning thrown in all possible directions ; 
these flashes are followed by peals of thunder, and 
by prolonged rumbling, which becomes feebler 
and feebler, and finally dies away far out on the 
surface of the ocean. The steamer penetrates the 
storm area. Darkness prevails. Gigantic drops 
of rain strike the deck and patter upon the canvas 
awning, the harbingers of a drenching rain. 

And now the thick'ned sky 
Like a dark ceiling stood ; down rush'd the rain im- 
petuous. Milton. 

The cloud and darkness are left behind, and a 
clear sky and smooth sea ahead greet the passen- 
gers. Did you ever see a rainbow at midnight? 
Such an unusual nocturnal spectral phenomenon 
greeted us in midocean : the full moon in the east, 
the delicate rainbow in its infinite colors painted 



24 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

on the clouds in the west. Our captain, who had 
lived on the tropic sea for a quarter of a 
century, had never seen the like before. It was 
reserved for us to see a rainbow painted by the 
moon. With such pleasant diversions, by day 
and by night, we soon forget the ocean desert, 
and yet on the last day of the voyage we welcome 
the sight of land. 

Be of good cheer, I see land. 

Diogenes. 

The vastness of the ocean and the smallness of 
Tahiti are in strange contrast. How the mariner, 
in setting the compass on leaving the harbor of 
San Francisco, can so unerringly find this little 
speck in the ocean nearly four thousand miles 
away, is an accomplishment which no one, not 
versed in the science of navigation can fully com- 
prehend. We sighted Tahiti during the early 
part of the forenoon. The peaks of the two 
highest mountains in Tahiti, Oroheua and Aorii, 
seven to eight thousand feet in height, projected 
spectre-like from the surface of the ocean. These 
peaks appeared as bare, sharp, conical points in the 
clear sky above a mantle of clouds which envel- 
oped the balance of the island. This misty drap- 
ing of the two highest mountains takes place 
almost every day, as the clouds are attracted by 
the constant moisture of the soil, due to the 
dense forests and luxuriant tropical vegetation. 



OCEAN VOYAGE 25 

The next sight of land brought into view the 
rugged mountains of Moorea and a group of 
small atoll islands. Moorea is in plain view from 
Papeete, and is the second largest of the Society 
Islands. Before we look at Tahiti at close range, 
let us examine the group of atoll islands which 
the steamer passes close enough to give us a 
good idea of their formation. 



THE ATOLL ISLANDS 

The atoll islands, so numerous in the South 
Seas, have a uniform conformation, and are of 
coral, deposited upon submerged summits of 
mountains of volcanic origin. The floor of the 
Pacific, like many other parts of the earth's 
surface, is undergoing constant changes, increas- 
ing or diminishing its level. Here and there, at 
certain intervals, volcanic eruptions have created 
mountains, which, in Hawaii, rise to nearly four- 
teen thousand and, in Tahiti, to over seven thou- 
sand feet. Around each of these innumerable 
islands and islets in the great Pacific Ocean the 
coral polyps have a fringing reef of rock. As 
these minute creatures can live only at a depth 
of twenty to thirty fathoms, and die as soon as 
exposed to the air, their life-work is confined to 
the coast of volcanic islands. Whenever, as it 
often happened, the island upon which they had 
congregated was slowly sinking, they would 
elevate their wall to save themselves from death 
in deep water. It is evident that if this process 
continued long enough, the land would entirely 
disappear and leave a submerged circular wall of 
coral just below the level of the low tide. The 
effects of the waves in breaking off the coral 
formation, large and small, in elevating them, 
would, in course of time, produce a ring of 

26 




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THE ATOLL ISLANDS 27 

sandy beach, rising above the sea surrounding 
the central basin, filled with salt water entering 
through one or many open channels. Upon the 
beach, cocoanuts, washed ashore, would find a 
favorable soil for germination, and, ere long, 
stately palms would fringe the rim of the enclosed 
lagoon. Every atoll island has a peripheral 
fringe of cocoa-palms and a central lagoon which 
communicates with the ocean by one or more 
channels. Such an island is an atoll, the final 
stage in the disappearance of a volcanic islet 
from the surface of the sea. Such islands are 
numerous in the Society Islands, and the 
Paumotuan Archipelago consists exclusively of 
such atoll islands. , 

It is interesting to know how these minute 
coral polyps manage their work of island-build- 
ing, or, rather, island-preservation. Coral form- 
ation is a calcareous secretion or deposit of many 
kinds of zoophytes of the class Anthozoa, which 
assumes infinite and often beautiful forms, 
according to the different laws which govern the 
manner of germination of the polyps of various 
species. The coral-producing zoophytes are com- 
pound animals, which multiply in the very 
swiftest manner, by germination or budding, 
young polyp buds springing from the original 
polyp, sometimes indifferently from any part of 
its surface, sometimes only from its upper cir- 
cumference or from its base, and not separating 



28 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

from it, but remaining in the same spot when 
the original parent or polyp is dead, and pro- 
ducing buds in their turn. The reproductive capac- 
ity of these polyps is marvelous and explains the 
greatness of their work in building up whole 
islands and the countless submerged reefs so 
much dreaded by the mariners of the South Seas. 
The calcareous deposition begins when the zoo- 
phytes are still simple polyps, owing their exist- 
ence to oviparous reproduction, adhering to a 
rock or other substance, to which the calcareous 
material becomes attached, and on which the 
coral is built up, the hard deposits of past gen- 
erations forming the base to which those of the 
progeny are attracted. The coral formation takes 
place with astonishing rapidity ; under favorable 
circumstances, masses of coral have been found 
to increase in height several feet in a few months, 
and a channel cut in a reef surrounding a coral 
island, to permit the passage of a schooner, has 
been blocked with coral in ten years. Coral 
formations have been found immediately attached 
to the land, whilst in many other cases the reef 
surrounds the island, the intervening space, of 
irregular, but nowhere of great width, forming a 
lagoon or channel of deep water, protected by 
the reef from wind and waves. According to 
Darwin, this kind of reef is formed from a reef 
of the former merely fringing kind, by the 
gradual subsidence of the rocky basis, carrying 



THE ATOLL ISLANDS 29 

down the fringe of coral to a greater depth; 
whilst the greatest activity of life is displayed by 
polyps of the kind most productive of large 
masses of coral in the outer parts which are 
most exposed to the waves. In this manner he 
also accounts for the formation of true coral 
islands, or atolls, which consist merely of a 
narrow reef of coral surrounding a central 
lagoon, and very often of a reef, perhaps half a 
mile in breadth, clothed with luxuriant vege- 
tation and the never-absent cocoa-palms, bor- 
dered by a narrow beach of snowy whiteness, and 
forming an arc, the convexity of which is toward 
the prevailing wind, whilst a straight line of reef 
not generally rising above the reach of the tide, 
forms the chord of the arc. The reef is gen- 
erally intersected by a narrow channel into the 
enclosed lagoon, the waters of which are still and 
beautifully transparent, teeming with the greatest 
variety of fish. Its surface is enlivened by water- 
fowl, and the depth of water close to the pre- 
cipitous sides of the reef is almost always very 
great. The channels are kept open by the flux 
and reflux of the tide, the current and waves of 
which are often so swift and high as to become 
a menace to schooners attempting entrance into 
the lagoon. On the beach, soil most conducive 
to the growth of cocoanut-palms is formed by 
accumulation of sand, shells, fragments of coral, 
seaweeds, decayed leaves, etc. The giant cocoa- 



30 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

nuts planted in this soil either by the hand of man 
or by the waves washing them ashore, germinate 
quickly, and in a few years the narrow circular 
strip of land enclosing the lagoon is fringed with 
colonnades of tall fruit-bearing palms. These 
islands rise nowhere more than a few feet above 
the level of the sea. Sometimes the upheaval of 
coral formation by volcanic action results in the 
making of a real island, in which event the lagoon 
disappears. Islands with such an origin some- 
times rise to a height of five hundred feet and 
often exhibit precipitous cliffs and contain ex- 
tensive caves. I had read a description of the 
Paumotu atoll islands by Stevenson, and conse- 
quently I was much interested in the little group 
of atolls we passed before coming into full view 
of Tahiti. As these islands, like all true atolls, 
are only a few feet above the level of the sea, 
they can not be seen from the sea at anything like 
a great distance. When they were pointed out 
to us by an officer of the steamer, we could see 
no land ; they appeared like oases in the desert, 
green patches in the ocean, due to the cocoa- 
palms which guarded their shores. As we came 
nearer, w r e could make out the rim of land and 
the snow-white coral beach. The smallest of 
these atoll islands are not inhabited, but regular 
visits are made to them in a small schooner or 
native double canoe to harvest and bring to 
market the never-failing crops of cocoanuts. 




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THE LANDING AT PAPEETE 

As we left the atolls behind us and neared 
Tahiti, we could see more clearly the outlines of 
the rugged island, disrobed, by this time, of its 
vestments of clouds. From a distance, the carpet 
of green which extends from its base to near the 
summit of the highest peaks is varied here and 
there by patches of red volcanic earth, thus add- 
ing to the picturesqueness of the scene. What at 
first appears as a greensward on the shore, on 
nearer view discloses itself as a broad fringe of 
cocoa-palms, extending from the edge of the 
ocean to the foot of the mountains, and from 
there well up on their slopes, where they are lost 
in the primeval forest. Above the tree-line, low 
shrubs and hardy grasses compose the verdure 
up to the bare, brown mountain-peaks. The 
largest trees are seen in the mountains' deep 
ravines, which are cut out of the side of the 
heights by gushing of cold, clear waters, which 
drain the very heart of the mountains, bounding 
and leaping over boulders and rapids in their race 
to a resting-place in the near-by calm waters of 
the lagoon. As we came nearer to the island we 
were able to make out the white lighthouse 
on Point Venus, seven miles from Papeete. Here, 
Captain Cook, during one of his visits to the 
island, was stationed for a considerable length of 

81 



32 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

time for the purpose of observing the transit of 
Venus ; hence the name of the point. 

Near the harbor, a native pilot came on board, 
and, by careful maneuvering, safely guided the 
ship through the very narrow channel in the reef 
into the harbor, with the tricolor flying from the 
top mast. From the harbor, the little city of 
Papeete and the island present an inspiring view. 
A charming islet on the left as we enter the 
harbor, looks like an emerald set in the blue 
water. It serves as a quarantine station, and 
the little snow-white buildings upon it appear like 
toy houses. The small city is spread out among 
cocoa-palms, ornamental and shade trees. The 
green of the foliage of these trees is continuous 
with the forest-clad mountains which form the 
background of the beautiful plateau on which the 
city is built. The harbor of Papeete is land and 
reef-locked, small, but deep enough to float the 
largest steamers plying in the Pacific Ocean. As 
the steamer came up slowly to the wharf, hun- 
dreds of people, a strange mixture of natives, 
half-castes, Europeans and Chinese, old and 
young, dressed in clothes of all imaginable colors, 
red being by far the most predominant, crowded 
the dock. Many of the children were naked, 
and not a few of the men and boys were unen- 
cumbered by clothing, with the exception of the 
typical, much checkered Tahitian cotton loin- 
cloth. A number of handsome carriages brought 



THE LANDING AT PAPEETE 33 

the elite of the city to take part in this most 
important of all monthly events. 

They come to see; they come to be seen. 

Ovidius. 

Custom-house officers, uniformed native police- 
men, government officials, French soldiers and 
merchants, mingled with the dusky natives and 
contributed much to the uniqueness of the land- 
ing-scene. The dense, motley crowd was anxious 
to see and be seen, but was orderly and well 
behaved. The custom-house officers were accom- 
modating and courteous, and passed our hand- 
baggage without inspection. On the wharf was 
a small mountain of cocoanuts, in readiness to 
be loaded as a part of the return cargo of the 
Mariposa. 



THE CITY OF PAPEETE 

Papeete is the capital of Tahiti, the seat of 
government of the entire archipelago, and the 
principal commercial city of the French posses- 
sions in Oceanica. It is a typical city of the 
South Sea world, as it is viewed from the deck 
of the steamer and while walking or riding along 
its narrow, crooked streets. From the harbor, 
little can be seen of its buildings, except the 
spire of the cathedral and the low steeples of two 
Protestant churches, the low tower of the gov- 
ernor's palace, formerly the home of royalty, the 
military hospital, the wharf, and a few business 
houses loosely scattered along the principal 
street, the Quai da Commerce that skirts the 
harbor. The residence part of the city is hidden 
behind towering cocoa-palms and magnificent 
shade-trees among which the flamboyant (burau) 
trees are the most beautiful. It is situated on 
a low plateau with a background of forest- 
clad mountains, the beautiful little harbor, the 
spray-covered coral reef, the vast ocean and the 
picturesque outlines of Moorea in front of it. 

Papeete has no sidewalks. The streets are 
narrow, irregularly laid out, and none of them 
paved. Most of the houses are one-story frame 
buildings, covered with corrugated iron roofs. 
There are only two or three large stores; the 

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THE CITY OF PAPEETE 35 

remaining business-places are small shops, many 
of them owned and managed by Chinamen. The 
present population, made up of natives of all 
tints, from a light chocolate to nearly white, six 
to eight hundred whites and about three hundred 
Chinese, numbers in the neighborhood of five 
thousand, nearly half of the population of the 
entire island. There are about five hundred 
Chinese in the island, who, by their industry and 
knowledge of business methods, have become 
formidable competitors of the merchants from 
other foreign countries. Their small shops and 
coffee-houses in Papeete and the country districts 
are well patronized by the natives. 

Papeete is the commercial center of Oceanica. 
There are no department stores there. Business 
is specialized more there than perhaps in any 
other city. All of the shops, even the largest, look 
small in the eyes of Americans. There are dry 
goods stores, grocery stores, millinery shops, two 
small frame hotels, the Hotel Francais and 
another smaller one, both on the Quai, a few 
boarding-houses, two saloons, and no bank. The 
scarcity of saloons can be explained by the fact 
that the natives are temperate in their habits. 
According to a law enforced by the government, 
the native women are prohibited from frequent- 
ing such places. 

The public wash-basin, supplied with running 
fresh water from a mountain stream, is a sight 
worth seeing. From a dozen to twenty native 



36 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

women, and a few soldiers, may be found here 
almost any time of the day, paddling knee-deep 
in the water, using stones in place of washboards 
in performing their arduous work. This prim- 
itive ' way of washing gives excellent results, 
judging from trie snow-white, spotless linen gar- 
ments worn by the Europeans and well-to-do 
natives. 

The little plaza or square in the center of the 
city is used as a market-place where natives con- 
gregate at five o'clock in the morning, to make 
their modest purchases of fish, plantain, pine- 
apple, melon or preserved shrimp done up in 
joints of bamboo. This is the place to learn what 
the islanders produce, sell and buy. 

The public buildings are well adapted for a 
tropic climate. The most important of these is 
the palace of the last of the Tahitian kings, now 
used as the office of the government. It is a 
handsome white building, surrounded by ample 
grounds well laid out, and beautified by trees, 
shrubs and flowers. The government school- 
house is an enormous frame building, resting 
upon posts, several feet from the ground, with 
more than one-half of its walls taken up by 
arched windows, the best lighted and most 
thoroughly ventilated building in the city, an 
ideal schoolhouse for the tropics. Among the 
churches of different denominations, the Catho- 
lic cathedral is the largest and best, although in 



THE CITY OF PAPEETE 37 

the States it would not be considered an ornament 
for a small country village. 

The city is well supplied with pure water from 
a mountain stream, but lacks a system of sewer- 
age. The gardens and grounds of the best resi- 
dences of the foreigners present an exquisite 
display of flowers that flourish best in the tropic 
soil, under the invigorating rays of the tropic 
sun, and the soothing effects of the frequent 
showers of rain, which are not limited to any 
particular season of the year. 

Papeete, like all cities in the equatorial region, 
is a city of supreme idleness and freedom from 
care. The citizens can not comprehend that 
"The great principle of human satisfaction 
is engagement" (Paley). This idleness is in- 
herent in the natives, and under the climatic 
conditions, and I suppose to a certain extent by 
suggestion, is soon acquired by the foreigners. 
Contentment and absence of anxiety characterize 
the life of the Tahitian. He has no desire to 
accumulate wealth ; he is satisfied with little. He 
is "shut up in measureless content" (Shake- 
speare) ; he is inspired with the good idea that 
"he that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be 
innocent" ( Proverb xxviii : 20 ) . The merchants 
open their shops at sunrise, lock the doors at ten, 
retire to their homes for breakfast, take their 
two-hour siesta, return to their business, suspend 
work at five, and the remainder of the day and 



38 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

the entire evening are devoted to rest, social visits 
and divers amusements. The social center of 
the foreigners is the Cercle Bougainville, a small 
frame building which serves the purpose of a 
club house. Bicycling is a favorite means of 
travel and sport for the Europeans as well as the 
natives of all classes. This vehicle has found its 
way not only into the capital city but also into the 
country districts throughout the island. The 
splendid macadamized road which encircles the 
island furnishes a great inducement for this sport. 
Two of the wealthiest citizens travel the prin- 
cipal streets in the city and the ninety-mile drive 
in the most modern fashion by riding an auto- 
mobile. 

There are tew if any door locks in private 
residences, hotels and boarding-houses, the best 
possible proof that the inhabitants arc law- 
abiding citizens. In the boarding-house in which 
I lived, the main entrance was left wide open 
during the night, and none of the door locks 
was supplied with a key. The native women wear 
Mother Hubbard gowns of bright calico ; the 
better class of men dress in European fashion, 
while the laborers and men from the country 
districts wear a pareu (loin-cloth) of bright 
calico, with or without an undershirt. The 
average Tahitian does not believe in : 

We are captivated by dress. 

Ovidius. 




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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND 

Into the silent land ! 

Ah, who shall lead us thither? 

Von Salis. 

There is no spot on earth more free from care, 
worry and unrest than the island of Tahiti. The 
abundance with which nature here has provided 
for the wants of man, the uniform soothing 
climate, the calmness of the Pacific Ocean, the 
pleasing scenery quiet the nerves, induce sleep 
and reduce to a minimum the efforts of man in 
the struggle for life. It is the island of peace, 
contentment and rest, a paradise on earth. 

No writer has ever done justice to the natural 
beauties of this gem of the South Seas. The 
towering mountains, the tropical forests, the 
numerous rippling streams of crystal water, 
shaded dark ravines, the palm-fringed shore, the 
lagoons with their quiet, peaceful, clear waters 
painted in most exquisite colors of all shades of 
green, blue and salmon by the magic influence of 
the tropical sun, their outside wall of coral reef 
ceaselessly kissed by the caressing, foaming, 
moaning surf, the near-by picturesque island of 
Moorea, with its precipitous mountains rising 
from the deep bed of the sea, the flat basin-like, 
palm-fringed atolls in the distance, and the vast 
ocean beyond, make up a combination of pictures 

39 



40 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

of which the mind never tires, and which engrave 
themselves indelibly on the tablet of memory. 

Tahiti is a typical mountain island, protected 
against the aggressive ocean by a coral reef 
which forms almost a complete wall around it, 
enclosing lagoons of much beauty, which teem 
with a great variety of fish. It is thirty-five 
miles in length, and on an average twelve miles 
in breadth. It is shaped somewhat in the form 
of an hourglass, the narrow part at Isthmus 
Terrawow. The circuit of the island by follow- 
ing the coast is less than one hundred and twenty 
miles. The ninety-mile drive which engirdles the 
island cuts off some of the irregular projections 
into the sea. The interior is very mountainous 
and cut into ravines so deep that it has never been 
inhabited to any extent. The highest peaks are 
Orohena and Aorii, from seven to eight thousand 
feet in height, the former cleft into two points 
of rock which are often draped with dark masses 
of tropic clouds. Numerous other peaks of 
lesser magnitude are crowded together in the 
center of the island, their broad foundations en- 
croaching upon the plain. The people live on the 
narrow strip of low land at the base of the 
mountains and running down to the shore, where 
the soil is exceedingly fertile and always well 
watered by numerous rivers, brooks and rivulets. 
Numberless cascades can be seen from the ninety- 
mile drive, leaping over cliffs and appearing like 



TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND 41 

silver threads in the dark green of the mountain- 
sides. The strip of arable land at the base of the 
mountains varies in width from the bare pre- 
cipitous cliffs, without even a beach, to one, or 
perhaps in the widest places, two miles. The 
larger streams have cut out a few broader valleys. 
It is this narrow strip of land which is inhabited, 
the little villages being usually located near the 
mouth of a river on the coast-line, insuring for 
the inhabitants a pure water-supply and facilities 
for fresh-water bathing, a frequent and pleasant 
pastime for the natives of both sexes and all 
ages. 

Wherever there is sufficient depth of soil, vege- 
tation is rampant. The fertility. of the soil and 
the stimulating effect of constant moisture on 
vegetable life are best seen by the vitality exhib- 
ited by the fence-posts. I have seen fence-posts 
a foot and more in circumference, after being 
implanted in the soil, strike root, sprout and 
develop into trees of no small size. The moun- 
tains, and more especially the ravines, are heavily 
timbered. There is no place on earth where the 
scenery is more beautiful and sublime than at 
many points along the ninety-mile drive. The 
lofty mountains, the fertile plain, the many rivers, 
brooks, rivulets and glimpses of foaming cas- 
cades, lagoons, of the surf beating the coral reef 
in the distance, the limitless ocean beyond, the 
luxuriant rampant vegetation, the beautiful 



42 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

flowers, the majestic palm-trees, the quaint villages 
and their interesting- inhabitants, form a picture 
which is beautiful, and, at the same time, sublime. 
As a whole it is sublime ; in detail, beautiful. 

Beauty charms, sublimity awes us, and is often 
accompanied with a feeling resembling fear; while 
beauty rather attracts and draws us towards it. 

Fleming. 

Let us see how Captain Cook was impressed 
with Tahiti when he first cast his eyes upon this 
gem of the Pacific : 

Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that 
affords a more luxuriant prospect than the southeast 
part of Otaheite [Tahiti.] The hills are high and steep, 
and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to 
the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a 
manner that the spectator can scarcely help thinking 
that the very rocks possess the property of producing 
and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat land 
which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the inter- 
jacent valleys also, teem with various productions that 
grow with the most exuberant vigour; and, at once, fill 
the mind of the beholder with the idea that no place 
upon earth can outdo this, in the strength and beauty 
of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in dis- 
tributing rivulets, which are found in every valley, and 
as they approach the sea, often divide into two or three 
branches, fertilizing the flat lands through which they 
run. 

Tahiti is the same to-day as when Captain 
Cook visited it for the first time. The only 
decided changes which have taken place since, 




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TOrOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND 43 

are the building up of the capital city Papeete, 
and the construction of the ninety-mile drive. 
The beauty of the island has been maintained 
because the natives have preserved the mag- 
nificent primeval forests. Strip Tahiti of its 
forests and it will be made a desert in a few years. 
Nature relies on the forests to attract the clouds 
which bring the moisture, and assist in the for- 
mation and preservation of the soil. Remove the 
trees, and drouth and floods will destroy vege- 
tation, and the latter will wash the existing soil 
into the hungry abyss of the ocean. Fertile and 
beautiful as Captain Cook found Tahiti, he 
deprecated the idea of settling it with whites. 

Our occasional visits may, in some respects, have 
benefited its inhabitants ; but a permanent establish- 
ment amongst them, conducted as most European 
establishments amongst Indian nations have unfortu- 
nately been, would, I fear, give them just cause to 
lament that our ships had ever found them out. Indeed, 
it is very unlikely that any measure of this kind should 
ever be seriously thought of, as it can neither serve the 
purposes of public ambition, nor of private avarice ; 
and, without such inducements, I may pronounce, that 
it will never be undertaken. 

The island has been invaded and taken by the 
whites and the results to the natives have been in 
many respects disastrous, which goes to prove 
the correctness of Captain Cook's prophecy. 



THE CLIMATE 

The climate of Tahiti, although tropical, is 
favorably influenced by the trade-winds and 
frequent showers. The breezes from ocean and 
land keep the heated atmosphere in motion, and 
the frequent rains throughout the year have a 
direct effect in lowering the temperature. The 
entire island from the shore to the highest moun- 
tain-peaks, is covered by forests and a vigorous 
vegetation. These retain the moisture and 
attract the pregnant clouds, securing, throughout 
the year, a sufficient rainfall to feed the many 
mountain streams and water the rich soil of the 
mountain-sides, valleys, ravines and lowlands 
along the coast. The temperature seldom exceeds 
90 degrees Fahrenheit, and during the coldest 
months, March and April, it occasionally falls 
as low as 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The atmos- 
phere is charged with humidity, and when this 
condition reaches the maximum degree, the heat 
is oppressive, more especially when there is no 
land or ocean breeze. If a hotel could be built 
at an elevation of three to four thousand feet 
above the level of the sea, the guests would find 
a climate which could not be surpassed in any- 
other part of the world. A prolonged residence 
in Papeete or any other part of the island near 
the sea-level is debilitating for the whites. Those 
of the white inhabitants who can afford it, leave 
the island every three or five years and seek re- 

44 



THE CLIMATE 45 

cuperation and a renewal of energy in a cooler 
climate, usually in California or Europe. Papeete, 
partially enclosed by mountains, and only a few 
feet above the level of the sea, and on the lee- 
ward side of the island, is said to be one of the 
warmest places in the island. The village of 
Papara gets the full benefit of the trade-winds 
and the land-breeze, and is one of the coolest 
spots in Tahiti. Tahiti's summer-time is our 
winter. I was fortunate in visiting the island 
during the latter part of January. It is the time 
when Nature makes a special effort here to pro- 
duce the luxuriant vegetation after the drench- 
ing rains of December. It is the time when the 
evergreen trees cast off, here and there, a faded 
leaf, to be replaced by a new one from the vigor- 
ous unfolding buds. It is the season of flowers 
and the greatest variety of fruits. It may 
interest the reader to know that one day seven dif- 
ferent kinds of fruits were served at the breakfast- 
table, a luxury out of reach of our millionaires at 
their homes in the North at that time of the year. 
For a winter vacation, the months of Jan- 
uary and February offer the greatest induce- 
ments. Those who are in need of an ideal mental 
rest, and are fond of a long ocean voyage, and 
enjoy tropic scenery and the marvelous products 
of the fertile soil of the tropics, should not fail 
to visit Tahiti, the little paradise in the midst of 
the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 

History is the witness of the times, the torch of 
truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the mes- 
senger of antiquity. Cicero. 

It was my privilege during my brief stay in 
Tahiti to meet Tati Salmon, chief of the Papara 
district. He is a direct descendant of one of the 
two noble families of the island, the Tevas, and 
one of the most prominent and influential citizens 
of the island. I asked him to what race the 
Tahitians belonged. To this question he had a 
ready reply. He said: "We belong to no race; 
man was created here; this is the lost Garden of 
Eden.'' There is much force, if not truth, in 
this assertion when we take into consideration 
the charming beauty of the island and the boun- 
teous provisions which Nature has made here for 
the existence of man. Then, too, the Tahitian 
is a good specimen of manhood, intellectually and 
physically, far superior to the Negro race and 
the Mongolian. Ariitaimai ( Arii Taimai E), the 
mother of the chief just referred to and the 
authoress of the book mentioned in the preface, 
believes that the Tahitians belong to the great 
Aryan race, the race of Arii, and that their 
chiefs were Arii, not kings, and the head chiefs, 
Ariirahi — Great Chiefs. It was only the latter 
who were entitled to wear the girdle of red 

46 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 47 

feathers, as much the symbol of their preeminence 
as the crown and sceptre of European royalty. 
The Tahitians are Polynesians, like the inhab- 
itants of most of the South Seas and of Hawaii, 
and there can be but little doubt that the Poly- 
nesians belong to the Malay race, having migrated 
from island to island, from west to east, by way 
of Java, Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands. As 
these voyages had to be made by means of frail 
canoes, we can readily conceive the hardships 
endured by the bold navigators of centuries ago. 
A story current in Tahiti relates that it was thus 
that the great chief Olopaua of Hawaii, driven 
from home by disastrous floods, bore his wife 
Lu'ukia in the twelfth century, to find a new 
dwelling place in Tahiti, twenty-three hundred 
miles away. It is said that the chiefess was a 
poetess, a dancer famed for grace, and the 
inventor of a style of dress which is still made by 
the Hawaiians. Many of the primitive peoples 
trace their origin to a legend which is handed 
down from generation to generation. 

In all ages of the world there is nothing with which 
mankind hath been so much delighted as with those 
little fictitious stories which go under the name of fables 
or apologues among the ancient heathens, and of par- 
ables in the sacred writings. Bishop Porteus. 

The Tevas of Tahiti have their legend and it 
is related by Ariitaimai, as it has been told for 
many generations. They take pride in the story 



48 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

that they are the direct descendants from the 
Shark God. The legend tells how many cen- 
turies ago a chief of Punaauia, by the name of 
Te mamitu-ruu, married a chiefess of Vaiari, 
named Hototu, and had a son, Terii te moanarau. 
At the birth of the child, the father set out in 
his canoe for the Paumotu Islands to obtain red 
feathers (Ura) to make the royal belt for the 
young prince. The legend begins by assuming 
that Vaiari was the oldest family, with its Maraes, 
and that Punaauia was later in seniority and rank. 
While Te manutu-ruu was absent on his long 
voyage to the Paumotus, a visitor appeared at 
Vaiari, and was entertained by the chiefess. This 
visitor was the first ancestor of the Tevas. He 
was only half human, the other half fish, or Shark 
God ; and he swam from the ocean, through the 
reef, into the Vaihiria River, where he came 
ashore, and introduced himself as Vari mataau- 
hoe, and, after having partaken of the hospital- 
ities of the chiefess, took up his residence with 
her. But after their intimacy had lasted some 
time, one day, when they were together, Hototu's 
dog came into the house and showed his affec- 
tion for his mistress by licking her face, or, 
as we should say now, kissed her, although in 
those days this mark of affection was unknown, 
as the Polynesians instead only touched noses 
as an affectionate greeting. At this the man- 
shark was so displeased that he abandoned the 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 49 

chiefess. He walked into the river, turned fish 
again and swam out to sea. On his way he met 
the canoe of the Chief Te manutu-ruu returning 
from the Paumotus, and stopped to speak to him. 
The chief invited Vari mataauhoe to return with 
him, but the man-shark declined, giving as his 
reason that the chiefess was too fond of dogs. 

The legend proves that the natives regarded 
Vaiari as the source of their aristocracy. Papara 
makes the same claim, for when Vari mataauhoe 
left Hototu he said to her : "You will bear me a 
child ; if a girl, she will belong to you and take 
your name ; but if a boy, you are to call him 
Teva; rain and wind will accompany his birth, 
and to whatever spot he goes, rain and wind will 
always foretell his coming. He is of the race of 
Ariirahi, and you are to build him a Marae 
which you are to call Matava (the two eyes of 
Tahiti), and there he is to wear the Marotea, 
and he must be known as the child of Ahurei 
(the wind that blows from Taiarapu)." A boy 
was born, and, as foretold, in rain and v/ind. 
The name of Teva was given to him ; and Matoa 
was built; and there Teva ruled. From this boy 
came the name Teva; but when and how it was 
applied to the clan no one knows. The members 
of the tribe or clan believe it must have been 
given by the Arii of Papara or Vaiari. To this 
day, the Tevas seldom travel without rain and 
wind, so that they use the word Teva rarivari — 

4 



50 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Teva wet always and everywhere. The Vaiari 
people still point out the place where the first 
ancestor of the clan lived as a child, his first 
bathing place, and the different waters in which 
he fished as he came on his way toward Papara. 
This legend is to-day as fresh in the district of 
Papara as it was centuries ago. It is but natural 
that the Tevas, one of the two most influential 
and powerful of the tribes of Tahiti, should be 
anxious to trace their ancestry to a royal origin 
even if the first ancestor should be a man-shark, 
little remembering that 

It is not wealth nor ancestry, but honorable conduct 
and a noble disposition that make men great. 

OVIDIUS. 

As the Tahitians had no written language 
before the missionaries visited the island, little 
is known of its earlier history. The history 
of the island since its discovery has been accu- 
rately written up by Ariitaimai, an eye-witness of 
many of the most stirring events and on that 
account most to be relied upon, for 

The only good histories are those that have been 
written by the persons themselves who commanded in 
the affairs whereof they write. Montaigne. 

Let us follow her account of the history of 
the island since its discovery by Captain Samuel 
Wallis, June 18, 1767. The captain made a voy- 
age around the world in Her Majesty's ship 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 51 

Dolphin, and on his way found the island, and 
called it Otaheite. At that time, Amo was head 
chief of Papara and of the Tevas, or rather his 
son Teriirere, born about 1762, was head chief, 
and Amo exercised power as his guardian, 
according to native custom, which made the 
eldest child immediately on birth, the head of the 
family. At that time the power of calling the 
Tevas to conference or war was peculiar to the 
Papara head chief ; the military strength of the 
Tevas was unconquerable, if it could be united ; 
but perhaps the most decisive part of every 
head chief's influence was his family connection. 
Nowhere in the world was marriage a matter of 
more political and social consequence than in 
Tahiti. Women occupied an important position 
in society and political affairs. The chiefesses 
held the reins of government with as much firm- 
ness as the chiefs, and commanded the same 
influence and respect. She was as independent 
of her husband as of any other chief; she had her 
seat or throne, in the Marae even to the exclu- 
sion of her husband ; and if she were ambitious 
she might win or lose crowns for her children 
as happened with Captain Wallis' friend Oberea, 
the great-aunt of Ariitaimai Purea, and with her 
niece, Tetuauni reiaiteatea, the mother of the 
first King Pomare. At the time of Wallis' and 
Cook's visits, Papara was the principal city in 
Tahiti, and Papeete, the present capital city of the 



52 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 



French possessions in Oceanica, a mere village. 
The Papara head chief was never the head chief 
of the whole island, but his power and influence 
were predominant throughout the whole island. 
The kingship which Europeans insisted on con- 
ferring on him, or on any other head chief who 
happened for the time to rival him, was never 
accepted by the natives until forced upon them 
by foreign influence and arms. From this it will 
be seen that before European influence made 
itself felt, the Tahitians were divided into tribes 
ruled by so many chiefs, with a head chief 
whose influence extended over the entire island. 
The form of native government was very simple 
and had many very commendable features. Wars 
between the tribes and between Tahiti and the 
neighboring island, Moorea, were, however, of 
frequent occurrence. 

All exact knowledge concerning dates in the 
history of the island begins with June 24, 1767, 
when Wallis warped his ship into the bay of 
Matavai, the most northerly point of the island. 
The appearance of the foreigners, the first time 
the natives had ever seen a white man and such a 
great ship, created consternation. Excitement 
ran high on the landing of the crew. The natives 
attacked them, but their rude implements of 
warfare could not cope with firearms, and they 
were defeated. Two days later, June 26th, the 
battle was renewed and again terminated in the 




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HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 53 

defeat of the natives, promptly followed by 
sudden friendship for their first European 
visitors. The natives, extremely superstitious, 
were at first suspicious, and it required some time 
to establish free relations between them and the 
commander and crew of the Dolphin. Strangely 
enough, the first native to board the ship was a 
woman. The incident is related by Wallis him- 
self : 

On Saturday, the 11th, in the afternoon, the gunner 
came on board with a tall woman, who seemed to be 
about five and forty years of age, of a pleasing counte- 
nance and majestic deportment. He told me that she 
was but just come into that part of the country, and that 
seeing great respect paid her by the rest of the natives, 
he had made her some presents ; in return for which 
she had invited him to her home, which was about two 
miles up the valley, and given him some large hogs ; 
after which she returned with him to the watering-place 
and expressed a desire to go on board the ship, in 
which wish he had thought it proper, on all accounts, 
that she should be gratified. She seemed to be under 
no restraint, either from diffidence or fear, when she 
came into the ship, and she behaved all the while she 
was on board with an easy freedom that always distin- 
guishes conscious superiority and habitual command. 
I gave her a large blue mantle that reached from her 
shoulders to her feet, which I drew over her, and tied on 
with ribbons ; I gave her also a looking-glass, beads of 
several sorts, and many other things, which she accepted 
with good grace and much pleasure. She took notice 
that I had been ill, and pointed to the shore. I under- 
stood that she meant I should go thither to perfect my 
recovery, and I made signs that I would go thither the 



54 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

next morning. When she intimated an inclination to 
return, I ordered the gunner to go with her, who, having 
set her on shore, attended her to her habitation, which 
he described as being very large and well built. He 
said that in this house she had many guards and 
domestics, and that she had another at a little distance 
which was enclosed in lattice work. 

This visit opened the island to the English- 
men. Wallis repeatedly refers to his first visitor 
as "my princess, or rather queen." When he 
came on shore the next day he was met by the 
princess, who ordered that he and the first lieu- 
tenant and purser, who were also ill, should be 
carried by the people to her home, where they 
were treated in a most hospitable manner. Here 
is a beautiful instance of natural hospitality, 
charity and gratitude combined ; a kindly deed 
dictated by unselfish motives, an exhibition of 
virtues so rarelv met with in the common walks 
of life. 

Hospitality to the better sort and charity to the poor; 
two virtues that are never exercised so well as when 
they accompany each other. Atterbury. 

The princess had full control over the curious, 
motley crowd, which gave way to the strangers 
by a sign of her hand. The house proved to be 
the Fare-hau, or Council-house, of Haapape, and 
the princess, as Wallis called her, who did not 
belong to Haapape, but to quite another part of 
the island, was herself a guest whose presence 
there was due to her relationship with the chief. 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND jo 

Wallis left the island July 27th. His "queen" 
and her attendants came on board and bade him 
and his crew a most affectionate farewell. 
Neither Wallis, nor Bougainville, who visited 
Tahiti in April, 1768, eight months later, ever 
learned what her true rank was, or from what 
part of the island she came. According to 
Ariitaimai, she was her great-great-grandaunt 
Purea, or rather, the wife of her great-great- 
granduncle. 

Bougainville named the island New Cytherea, 
and Commerson, the naturalist, charmed by its 
beauty and astonished at its resources, called it 
Utopia. The latter gave the following romantic 
description of the island and its people in a letter 
published in the Mcrcnre de France : 

Je puis vous dire que c'est le seul coin de la terre ou 
habitent des homines sans vices, sans prejuges, sans 
besoins, sans dissensions. Nes sous le plus beau ciel, 
nourris des fruits d'une terre feconde sans culture, regis 
par des peres de famille plutot que par des rois, ils ne 
connaissent d'autre dieu que l'Amour. Tous les jours 
lui sont consacres, toute l'isle son temple, toutes les 
femmcs — me demandez-vous? Les rivales des 
Georgiennes en beaute et les sceurs des graces toutes 
unes. 

Such was the simple, innocent, happy island 
life when Tahiti was discovered by the white 
man, whose pretended object was to bring to 
the natives the benefits of modern civilization. 
As to the immediate effects of European civili- 



53 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

zation on the morals of the natives, Ariitaimai 
has the following to say in reply to the alleged 
laxity of Tahitian morals : 

No one knows how much of the laxity of morals was 
due to the French and English themselves, whose 
appearance certainly caused a sudden and shocking 
overthrow of such moral rules as had existed before in 
the island society : and the "supposed" means that when 
the island society as a whole is taken into account. 
Marriage was real as far as it went, and the standard 
rather higher than that of Paris ; in some ways 
extremely lax, and in others strict and stern to a 
degree that would have astonished even the most con- 
ventional English nobleman, had he understood it 

The third European to visit Tahiti was that 
intrepid explorer, Captain Cook, who entered 
Matavai Bay on the 13th of April, 1769, in Her 
Majesty's bark, the Endeavor, on his first voyage 
around the world. He met chief Tootahah, 
under whose protection he settled on Point 
Venus. He was accompanied by a staff of sci- 
entists, among them Joseph Banks and Dr. 
Solander, a Swedish naturalist. Captain Wallis' 
"queen" was again on the shore to meet the 
strangers. Captain Cook gives a detailed 
account of her visit : 

She first went to Mr. Banks' tent at the fort, where 
she was not known, till the master, who knew her, 
happening to go ashore, brought her on board with 
two men and several women, who seemed to be all of 
her family. I made them all some presents or other, 
but to Obariea (for that was the woman's name) I gave 




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HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 57 

several things, in return for which, as soon as I went 
on shore with her, she gave me a hog and several 
bunches of plantains. These she caused to be carried 
from her canoes up to the fort in a kind of procession, 
she and I bringing up the rear. This woman is about 
forty years of age, and, like most of the other women, 
very masculine. She is head or chief of her own family 
or tribe, but to all appearance hath no authority over 
the rest of the inhabitants, whatever she might have 
when the Dolphin was here. 

Cook ascertained at this time, that Obariea 
was the wife of the most influential chief of the 
island, Oamo, but did not live with him. She 
had two children, a daughter eighteen years old, 
and a boy of seven, the heir to the throne. He 
says in his Journal : 

The young boy above mentioned is son to Oamo and 
Obariea, but Oamo and Obariea do not at this time live 
together as man and wife, he not being able to endure 
with her troublesome disposition. I mention this 
because it shows that separation in the marriage state is 
not unknown to these people. 

When Cook made his second visit to the island, 
in 1774, he learned that Oamo and Obariea, or, 
as they are called in the genealogy of the Tevas, 
Amo and Purea, had been driven from Papara 
into the mountains. Vehiatu, the victor, made 
Amo resign, and the regency of that part of the 
island was entrusted to Tootuhah, the youngest 
brother of the deposed chief. 



POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF 

TAHITI 

The Pomare family arc descendants of chiefs 
called Tu of Faaraoa, one of the atoll islands 
of the Paumotu Archipelago, some two hundred 
and fifty miles northeast of Tahiti. The exact 
date of the first Tu's arrival in Tahiti is unknown. 
Even the generation can not be fixed. The 
Pomares were always ashamed of their Paumotu 
descent, which they regarded as a flaw in their 
heraldry, and which was a reproach to them in 
the eyes of the Tahitians, for all Tahitians 
regarded the Paumotus as savage, and socially 
inferior. The first Tu who came to visit the 
distant land of Tahiti, came in by the Taunoa 
opening, which is the eastern channel, into what 
is now the harbor of Papeete. Landing at Taunoa 
a stranger, he was invited to be the guest of 
Manaihiti, who seems to have been a chief of 
Pare. He was adopted by the chief as his 
brother, and at the death of the chief, he 
became heir and successor in the chief's line. 
He married into the Arue family, which gave his 
son a claim to the joint chiefdom of Pare Arue; 
and at last his grandson, or some later genera- 
tion, obtained in marriage no less a personage 
than Tetuaehuri, daughter of Taiarapu. One 
of the members of this family, Teu (born 1720, 



POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 59 

died 1802) made new and important advances 
in the social and political circles of Tahiti by 
marriage, and became the father of Pomare I. 
(1743-1803), the first king of Tahiti. Teu seems 
to have been a very clever and cautious man. 
He never assumed to be a great chief or to wear 
the belt of feathers. He was more jealous of his 
son than of Amo or his son Teriirere. His son. 
Tu, was born about 1743. Related by birth with 
two cf the most influential families, he strength- 
ened, his native ties by marrying Tetuanui-rea-i- 
tc-rai, of the adjoining independent chief dom 
of Tefauai Ahurai, who was not only a niece of 
Purea, but quite as ambitious and energetic as 
Purea herself. The English, who could not 
conceive that the Tahitians should be able to 
exist without some pretense of royalty, gave Tu 
the rank and title of king, notwithstanding that 
he was only one, and at that not the most influ- 
ential of several Arii rahi. To the great dissatis- 
faction of the other chiefs, Tu received the lion's 
share of presents from Captain Cook. At this 
action, the Ahurai and Attahura people were 
enraged, and Cook was quite unable to under- 
stand that they had reason to complain. To 
them, Cook's partiality for Tu must have seemed 
a delibeiate insult. When Cook returned on his 
third voyage, in 1777, several Tahitian tribes 
were in a state of war with Moorea, in which Tu 
took no active part. Cook then deliberately 



POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 61 

October 2Q, 1783. He came for a supply of bread- 
fruit, which was to be introduced and domesti- 
cated in the various tropical colonies of Great 
Britain, and indirectly to advance the interests 
and power of Tu : who had nearly lost his influ- 
ence over the natives. His position was so des- 
perate that he begged the lieutenant to take him 
and his wife, Tetua, to England. He had a son, 
at this time six years old, who became the first 
Christian king of Tahiti. Before leaving the 
island, April 3, 1789, Bligh did what he could 
to strengthen Tu's position, and supplied him 
with firearms. For this act he gave the following 
explanation : 

He (Tu) had frequently expressed a wish that I 
would leave some firearms and ammunition with him, 
as he expected to be attacked after the ship sailed, and 
perhaps chiefly on account of our partiality to him. I 
therefore thought it but reasonable to accede to his 
request. I was the more readily prevailed on, as he said 
his intentions were to act only on the defensive. This, 
indeed, seems most suited to his disposition, which is 
neither active nor enterprising. When I proposed to 
leave with him a pair of pistols, which they prefer to 
muskets, they told me that his wife, Tetua, would fight 
with one and Oedidee with the other. Tetua has learned 
to load and fire a musket with great dexterity, and 
Oedidee is an excellent marksman. It is not common 
for women in this country to go to war, but Tetua is a 
very resolute woman, of a large make, and has great 
bodily strength. 

History shows that Tetua was not the only 
fighting woman in Tahiti, as at different times, 



62 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

in tribal wars, it was not uncommon for women 
to take an active part, and in more than one 
instance the leading part. 

On great occasions it is almost always women who 
have given the strongest proofs of virtue and devotion ; 
the reason is, that with men, good and bad qualities 
are in general the result of calculation, whilst in 
women they are impulses, springing from the heart. 

Count Montholon. 

Lieutenant Bligh left the island April 4th. 
As he was passing the Friendly, or Tonga group, 
April 2Sth, the larger part of his officers and men 
mutinied and set him and some eighteen others 
adrift in the ship's launch. The mutineers then 
put the ship about and returned to Tahiti, where 
they arrived at Matavai Bay, June G, 1?89. There 
they took in ail the live-stock they could obtain, 
and twenty-four Tahitians, and sailed again June 
16th for Tubuai, but appeared once more, Sep- 
tember 2 ?nd, and landed sixteen of the mutineers, 
who were tired of their adventures. The rest 
sailed suddenly the next night, and vanished 
from the sight of men for twenty years. The 
sixteen mutineers who remained scattered more 
or less over the island, but made Pare their 
headquarters and Tu their patron. Here they set 
to work, November 12, IT 89, to build a thirty- 
foot schooner, with which to make their escape. 
The effect of the example of these ruffians and 
criminals on the morals of the simple, receptive 



POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 63 

Tahitians can be readily imagined. These men, 
who had enjoyed the confidence of their com- 
mander and the advantages and pleasures of a 
trip to foreign strange countries, proved un- 
grateful, and "the earth produces nothing worse 
than an ungrateful man" (Ansonius). The 
schooner was launched August 5, 1790. The war 
which immediately followed, and which reestab- 
lished Tu in his power for the time, deserves to 
be called the War of the Mutineers of the Bounty. 
Y\ Tien Tu died, thirteen years later, the mis- 
sionaries in their Journal recorded many details 
about his life and character, and among other 
things, they said : 

He was born in the district of Oparre, where his 
corpse now is, and was by birth chief of that district, 
and none other. The notice of the English navigators 
laid the foundation for his future aggrandizement; 
and the runaway seamen that from time to time quitted 
their vessels to sojourn in the island (especially that 
of His Majesty's ship Bounty's crew, which resided 
here) were the instruments for gaining to Pomarre a 
greater extent of dominion and power than any other 
man had before in Otaheite. 

It is very evident that the first Pomare was 
a man without firmness and that what influence 
he exercised was due to the energies and ambition 
of his wife and to foreign support. When Lieu- 
tenant Bligh reached home and reported the 
mutiny, the British government sent the frigate 
Pandora in search of the Bounty and the deserted 



64 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

crew. The Pandora never found the Bounty, 
which long- since had been burned by the muti- 
neers at Pitcairn Island ; but she did find such of 
the mutineers as had returned to Tahiti, and who 
were actively engaged in establishing Tu as a 
Tahitian despot, when the Pandora, in March, 
1791, appeared in Matavai Bay. The mutineers, 
it seems, unable to keep at sea in the rickety 
schooner, landed at Papara, March 26th, and took 
refuge in the mountains. Captain Edwards, of 
the Pandora, immediately sent two boats, with 
a number of men, to Papara. Through the 
friendly office of the chiefs and natives, the 
mutineers were finally captured, one by one, 
until only six remained out, and these were at 
last found near the seashore, where they were 
captured after many fruitless attempts. The 
Pandora sailed from Tahiti with her prisoners in 
May, 1791, and in December following, Vancouver 
arrived in the sloop of war Discovery, on a search 
for a northwest passage to the Orient, stopping 
for supplies at Tahiti, December 2Sth. 

Vancouver, who had been with Cook in 1777, 
inquired for his old friends. He learned that the 
young king had taken the name of Otoo, and his 
old friend that of Pomare, having given up his 
name with his sovereign jurisdiction, though he 
still seemed to retain his authority as regent. 
This is the first record of the name Pomare, by 
which the family has since been known. After 




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POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 65 

the birth of the young Tu, about 17S2, the first 
of his children who was allowed to live, the 
father seems to have taken the name of Tuiah, 
or Tarino, which he bore in 1788. He took the 
name of Pomare (night cough) from his younger 
son, Terii nava horoo, a young child in 1791, who 
coughed at night. With the assistance of Eng- 
lish guns, Pomare waged active war on neighbor- 
ing chiefs, and the chief of Papara was the last 
one to succumb. By successive vigorous strokes, 
he finally gained control of the entire group of 
islands, including Borabora. 



MISSIONARY RULE 

It is better that men should be governed by priest- 
craft than violence. Lord Macauley. 

The early missionaries of Tahiti played an 
important role in the island politics. They did 
not limit their work to the conversion of the 
heathen islanders, but took an active part in polit- 
ical affairs, and many of their doings in that 
direction were not in accord with the teachings of 
the gospel. The first missionaries sent to Tahiti 
from England reached the island in the Duff, 
March, 1797. They received information of the 
island politics from two Swedish sailors, Andrew 
Lind, of the ship Matilda, which had been 
wrecked in the South Sea in 1792, and Peter 
Haggerstein, who deserted from the Daedalus 
in February, 1793. Both of these men were 
adventurers of the type that has infested the 
South Seas for more than a century. They 
became well-known characters in the history of 
the island, sometimes assisting the mission- 
aries, and sometimes annoying them. In July, 
1797, Peter accompanied one of the missionaries 
as a guide and interpreter, on a circuit round the 
island, to make a sort of census, as a starting- 
point for the missionary work. They began with 
Papenoo, July 11th, and as they walked, Peter 
boasted of his exploits. His stories were so much 
in conflict with facts that they rather misled 

66 



MISSIONARY RULE 67 

than aided the missionaries in search of island 
affairs. Temarii, the chief of Papara, had vis- 
ited the missionaries at Matavai. The mission- 
aries gave the following account of him : 

May 7, 1797, visited by the chief priest from Papara, 
Temarre. He was dressed in a wrapper of Otaheitian 
cloth, and over it an officer's coat doubled around 
him. At his first approach he appeared timid, and 
was invited in. He was just about seated when the 
cuckoo clock struck and filled him with astonishment 
and terror. Old Pyetea had brought the bird some 
breadfruit, observing it must be starved if we never 
fed it. At breakfast we invited Temarii to our repast, 
but he first held out his hand with a bit of plantain 
and looked very solemn, which, one of the natives said, 
was an offering to Eatooa (Tahitian divinity) and v/e 
must receive it. When we had taken it out of his hand 
and laid it under the table, he sat down and made a 
hearty breakfast. Brother Cover read the translated 
address to all these respected guests, the natives listen- 
ing with attention, and particularly the priest, who 
seemed to drink in every word, but appeared dis- 
pleased when urged to cast away their false gods, and 
on hearing the names of Jehovah and Jesus he would 
turn and whisper. Two days afterwards, Temarii came 
again to the mission house and this time with the young 
Otoo, Pomare II., and his first wife Tetuanui. 

Here again is the account of the visit by the 

missionaries : 

May 9th, Temarre accompanied the king and queen 
and staid to dine with us. He is, we find, of the royal 
race and son of the famed Oberea. He is the first chief 
of the island after Pomarre, by whom he has been 
subdued, and now lives in friendship with him and has 
adopted his son. He is also high in esteem as a priest. 



68 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

In July of the same year the missionaries 
visited Temarii a' Papara on their way around 
the island. They found the chief under the influ- 
ence of Kava, but were feasted the next day on 
Temarii's feast pig. Not only was Temarii the 
most powerful chief of the island, but Pomare 
had become, by his son's accession, a chief of 
the second order. He depended greatly on the 
favor of his son, the young Tu, who was, in 1797, 
supposed to be at least fifteen and perhaps seven- 
teen years of age, and who had been adopted 
by Temarii, his cousin, who was about ten years 
older than he. Adoption was rather stronger in 
the South Seas than the tie of natural parentage. 
Between his natural father, Pomare, and his 
adopted father, Temarii, the young Tu preferred 
the latter, and sooner or later every one knew 
that Temarii would help Tu to emancipate him- 
self and drive Pomare from the island. 

The Duff sailed for England August 14, 1797, 
leaving the missionaries to the mercies of rival 
factions, and they soon ascertained that Pomare 
and Tu were on anything but friendly terms. 
The missionaries had faith in Pomare, who chose 
one of them by the name of Cover as a brother. 
Temarii chose another by the name of Main. 
These two missionaries went to Papara August 
loth, at the suggestion of the influential native 
priest, Manne Manne, to remonstrate against 
a human sacrifice which was to be made at the 




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MISSIONARY RULE 69 

Marae Tooarai. On account of a murder 
recently committed, the missionaries found the 
chief and people greatly excited, and fled as 
quickly as possible. 

In the month of March the missionaries found 
themselves in a critical condition when the ship 
Nautilus appeared and two of her crew deserted. 
The deserters went to Pare and were sheltered 
there. The captain of the Nautilus at once set 
to work to recover them. Four of the mission- 
aries proceeded to Pare to see Tu, Pomare and 
Temarii and informed them that a refusal to 
return the men would be regarded as exhibiting 
an evil intention against the missionaries. They 
found Tu and Temarii at Pare, but went to get 
Pomare to join them, when they were suddenly 
attacked and stripped by some thirty natives, who 
took their clothes and treated them rather 
roughly, but at last released them. They: went to 
Pomare's house and were kindly received. 
Pomare returned with them to Tu, and insisted 
on the punishment of the offenders and the deliv- 
ery of the deserters. Two were executed, and 
the district of Pare took up arms to avenge them. 
Tu joined his father and suppressed the riot, so 
that the missionaries' clothes £ost the natives 
fifteen lives before order was restored. This in- 
cident made the missionaries very unpopular and 
they had to depend more than ever on Pomare 
for protection. 



70 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

On August 24th, two whaling vessels, the 
Cornwall and Sally, of London, anchored in 
Matavai Bay, and most of the principal chiefs 
went on board. On the 30th, while the mission- 
aries were at dinner, Pomare came in great haste, 
and told them that a man had been blown up 
with gunpowder at the Council house in Pare, 
and requested them to hasten to the place and 
render assistance. When they arrived they found 
that the injured man was Temarii. Here is the 
account of the affair by the missionaries : 

At our arrival we were led to the bed of Temaree 
called also Orepiah, and beheld such a spectacle as we 
had never before seen. Brother Broomhall began 
immediately to apply what he had prepared with a 
camel's-hair brush over most parts of the body. He 
was apparently more passive under the operation than 
we could conceive a man in his situation would be 
capable of. The night drawing on, we took leave of him 
by saying we would return next morning with a fresh 
preparation. On the following morning we were 
struck with much surprise at the appearance of the 
patient. He was literally daubed with something like a 
thick white paste. Upon inquiry we found it to be the 
scrapings of yams. Both the chief and his wife seemed 
highly offended at Brother Broomhall's application the 
preceding evening, and they would not permit him to 
do anything more t for him, as he had felt so much pain 
from what he had applied. It was said that there was 
a curse put into the medicine by our God. 

It must be remembered that the Tahitian 
chiefs were also priests and not infrequently 
acted as physicians. The dissatisfaction of 



MISSIONARY RULE 71 

Temarii with the treatment of his case by the 
missionaries had therefore to be considered as a 
most unfortunate affair. Under these conditions 
the missionaries were apprehensive of increas- 
ing hostilities. The suspicion on part of the 
superstitious natives that the missionaries had 
been sent by Pomare to curse Temarii and cause 
his death was not only a natural but a reasonable 
one to the chief as well as his subjects. Pomare 
was quite capable of such conduct and as far 
as the natives knew, the missionaries were 
Pomare's friends and supporters. The accident 
which gave rise to this unfortunate occurrence 
was due to the English gunpowder and it was 
fortunate that the missionaries had nothing to 
do with furnishing it. The explosion occurred 
while Temarii was testing the quality of powder 
which he obtained from the whalers Cornwall 
and Sally. 

A pistol was loaded and unthinkingly fired in the 
midst of a number of people, over the whole quantity 
(five pounds) of powder received. A spark of fire 
dropped from the pistol upon the powder that lay on 
the ground, and in a moment it blew up. The natives 
did not feel themselves hurt at first, but when the 
smoke was somewhat dispersed, observing their skin 
fouled with powder, they began to rub their arms, and 
found the skin peeling off under their fingers. Terrified 
at this, they instantly ran to a river near at hand and 
plunged themselves in. 

Temarii lingered in great suffering till Sep- 
tember 8th, but the missionaries did not dare to 



72 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

visit him again for fear of violence on the part of 
the indignant natives. The whole body of chiefs 
was present and looked on in consternation while 
Temarii died. The chief's remains were carried, 
in the usual state, round the island to all his 
districts and duly mourned ; and in the regular 
course prescribed by the island ceremonial, his 
head was secretly hidden in the cave at Papara. 
These demonstrations served to spread the news 
of the calamity, for which the missionaries 
received the exclusive blame. The political com- 
plications which followed induced Pomare to 
seek safety in flight to the Paumotu Islands, 
leaving his wife to face the storm. The chiefess 
was not idle after her husband's cowardly flight. 
On the 29th of November she compromised with 
Tu by ceding to him the authority he wanted, and 
obtained from him a pledge assuring her safety. 
This guaranty was the life of the high priest, old 
Manne Manne, Tu's best friend. He was 
murdered by Tetuanui's people on his way from 
Matavai to Pare. The chiefess was in the mis- 
sionaries' house when this news arrived. She 
had a Cartridge-box around her waist and a 
musket near at hand. She shook hands in a 
friendly manner with the Swede, saying unto 
him, "It is all over," meaning the war, and im- 
mediately returned to her home. Pomare gained 
nothing by these dissensions, for he had nothing 
to gain, but had to sacrifice a part of his posses- 



MISSIONARY RULE 73 

sions. The only winner in this tragic game was 
the worst and most bloodthirsty of all, Tu, the 
first Christian king. It must be remarked that 
this king was the creation of the English, and 
that he was used as a tool in the hands of the mis- 
sionaries. The Europeans came, and not only 
upset all the moral ideas of the natives, but also 
their whole political system. Before European 
influence made itself felt in Tahiti, whenever a 
chief became intolerably arrogant or dangerous, 
the other chiefs united to overthrow him. All 
the wars that are remembered in island traditions 
were caused by the overweening pride, violence 
or abnormal ambition of the great chiefs of dis- 
tricts, and always ended in correcting existing 
evils and in restoring the balance of power. 

The English came just at the time when one 
of these revolutions was in progress. The whole 
island had united to punish the chiefess of Papara 
for outrageous disregard of the island courtesies 
which took the place of international law between 
great chiefs. Purea had taken away the symbol 
of sovereignty she had assumed for her son, and 
had given it for safe-keeping to the chief of 
Paea. The natives and chiefs had recognized 
the chief of Pare, Arue, as entitled to wear the 
Maro-ura, which Purea had denied him by insult- 
ing his wife. Then the chief of Paea had tried 
to imitate Purea and assert supreme authority, 
only to be in his turn defeated and killed. 



74 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Probably Tu would never have attempted a 
similar course if the English had not insisted on 
recognizing and treating him as king of the 
whole island. He was one of the weakest of the 
chiefs and enjoyed little if any reputation as a 
military power. The other chiefs would have 
easily kept him in his proper place if the English 
had not constantly supported him and restored 
him to power when he was vanquished. English 
interference and the assistance of the mission- 
aries prolonged his ambition and caused the con- 
stant revolutions which gave no chance for the 
people to recover from the losses. Pomare was 
a shrewd politician and with the assistance of 
English guns finally gained control over the 
whole island, crushing tribal rule, the safeguard 
of the people under his despotic rule. All 
visitors to the island became aware how desper- 
ately the unfortunate people struggled against 
the English policy of creating and supporting a 
tyranny. The brutality and violence of Tu made 
him equally hated by his own people of Pare 
and by the Teva districts. Of these facts the 
missionaries had full knowledge, as is evident 
from their numerous correspondents, neverthe- 
less, they assisted him in carrying out his plans 
to gain control over the entire island. They 
supplied him freely with firearms and ammuni- 
tion. To preserve peace the missionaries did 
some very curious things which suggest, as they 




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MISSIONARY RULE 75 

hinted, that they were glad to see the natives 

fighting together, as is evident from one of their 

daily records: 

August 20, 1800. — We hear great preparations are 
making, whether for war or peace is to be determined 
in a short time, by some heathenish divination. If it 
should prove for war, those who are eager for blood 
seem determined to glut themselves, we rejoice that the 
Lord of Hosts is the God of the heathen as well as the 
Captain of the Armies of Israel ; and while the pot- 
sherds of the earth are dashing themselves to pieces one 
against the other, they are fulfilling his determinate 
counsels and foreknowledge. 

In the month of June Pomare instituted a 
wholesale massacre to subject the entire island 
to his rule, and by brutal force gained the object 
of his ambition. In 1808 the political situation 
was such that the missionaries found, it necessary 
for their safety to leave the island, and fled with 
Pomare, November 12th, to the island of Moorea. 
Pomare's cruelties and atrocities practiced upon 
the natives during his tyrannical rule are well 
described in a pen-picture drawn by Moerenhout : 

After having massacred all whom they had surprised 
(in Attahura), after having burned the houses, they 
went on to Papara, where Tati, who is still living (1837), 
was chief; but fortunately a man who had escaped from 
the carnage of Punaauia came to warn the inhabitants 
of Papara, so that they had time, not to unite in 
defense, but to fly. Nevertheless, in that infernal night 
and the day following a great number of persons per- 
ished, especially old men, women and children ; and 
among the victims were the widow and children of 



76 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Aripaia (Ariifaataia) Amo's son, who, surprised the next 
evening near Taiarahu, were pitilessly massacred with 
all their attendants. Tati and some of his warriors suc- 
ceeded in reaching a fort called Papeharoro, at Mair- 
epehe ; but they were too few to maintain themselves 
there, and were forced to take refuge in the most 
inaccessible parts of the high mountains, from whence 
this chief succeeded in getting to a canoe which some 
of his faithful followers provided for him, and kept in 
readiness on the shore, at the peril of their lives. With 
him were his brother and his young son, whom he 
had himself carried in his arms during all this time of 
fatigue and dangers. 

Opuhara became chief of Papara, and soon 
afterward chief of the island, and remained the 
chief personage of Tahiti during the next seven 
years. Ellis, the historian of the missionaries, 
described him as an intelligent and interesting 
man. 

At Moorea, Pomare's friends were Paumo- 
tuans, Boraborans, Raiateans, missionaries, and 
outcasts. Even these at last abandoned him. 
The missionary journal shows that they had 
long regarded their work as a failure, and after 
identifying themselves with Pomare, in spite of 
emphatic warnings, no other result was possible. 
So the missionaries, leaving only Mr. Nott at 
Moorea, sailed for Australia, not daring to 
accept the proffered protection of the Tahiti 
chiefs, because they could not separate them- 
selves, in the minds of the common people, from 
Pomare and his interests. At Moorea, Pomare 



MISSIONARY RULE 7? 

urged the visiting chiefs to become Christians. 
On the 18th of July, 1812, he announced his own 
decision to the missionaries, and shortly after- 
wards, on invitation from his old district of Pare 
Arue, he returned to Tahiti, where he was per- 
mitted to remain for two years, as an avowed 
Christian, unmolested by his old enemies. He 
took up his residence at Pare Arue as a Christian 
chief, August 13, 1812, and kept up a corre- 
spondence with the missionaries at Moorea. 

The missionaries returned and were more suc- 
cessful in Christianizing the people. On the 
17th of February, 1813, Pomare wrote : "Matavai 
has been delivered up to me. When I am per- 
fectly assured of the sincerity of this surrender 
I will write to you another letter." The mis- 
sionaries made a tour of the island ; many con- 
versions took place ; in Moorea several idols were 
publicly burned; there could be no doubt that 
the Christians were pursuing an active course, 
and that their success would bring back the 
authority of Pomare over the whole island; but 
neither Opuhara nor Tati interfered, and the 
peace remained. Yet, after waiting two years 
at Pare, vainly expecting the restoration of his 
government, and endeavoring to recover his 
authority in his hereditary districts, Pomare 
returned to Moorea in the autumn of 1814, 
accompanied by a large train of adherents and 
dependents, all professing Christianity. At the 



78 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

same time the Christian converts in Tahiti 
became an organization known as the Bure Atua, 
and every one could see that Pomare was making 
use of them, and of his wife's resources, to begin 
a new effort to recover by force his authority 
in the island. War was inevitable, and Pomare, 
with his Christian followers and missionaries, 
could choose the time and place. 

Pomare himself was not a soldier, nor had he 
anything of a soldierly spirit. He left active 
campaigning to his wives, who were less likely 
to rouse the old enmity. His two wives, Terite 
and Pomare vehinc, came over to Pare Arue 
May, 1815, with a large party of Christians, 
and urged their plans for the overthrow of the 
native chiefs. The chiefs had no other alternative 
than to get rid of them, and fixed the night of 
July 7th for the combined attack. Opuhara led 
the forces, and it is said that he had given the 
two queens timely warning to effect their escape. 
For his delay some of the other chiefs charged 
him with treachery. He replied that he wished 
no harm to the two women or their people ; that 
his enemies were the Parionuu ; and he marched 
directly into Pare Arue, and subdued it once 
more. 

While Pomare and the missionaries grew 
stronger, and, as Ellis expressed it, "became con- 
vinced that the time was not very remote when 
their faith and principles must rise preeminent 




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MISSIONARY RULE 79 

above the power and influence" of the native 
chiefs, the chiefs themselves exhibited vacillation. 
Pomare returned, with all his following, appar- 
ently armed and prepared for war. The native 
converts were trained to the use of firearms and 
the whole missionary interest became, for the 
moment, actively militant. The native chiefs 
remained passive. Under the appearance of 
religious services, Pomare and the missionaries 
kept their adherents under arms and prepared 
them for any hostilities that might arise. 

With his army numbering eight hundred, two 
war canoes, one manned with musketeers, the 
other with a swivel gun in the stern, commanded 
by a white man, Pomare, on November 11th, 
took possession at or near the village of Punaauia, 
near Papara, with pickets far in advance. 
Opuhara hastily summoned his men in the 
famous battle of Fei-pi (the ripe plantains). The 
field of battle was among the foothills near the 
coast. Opuhara's warriors made a valiant attack 
and pierced the front ranks of the enemy till it 
reached the spot where one of the queens, Pomare 
vehine, and the chief warriors stood. There one 
of the native converts leveled his gun at Opuhara, 
fired, the chief fell, and in a very short time 
expired. The leader of the native forces was 
killed by one of his own people who had cast 
his lot with Pomare and the missionaries. 

This war was brought on to force the natives 



80 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

to Pomare's rule, and not for the purpose of 
removing obstacles to the Christianization of the 
islanders, as the chiefs were not opposed to the 
peaceable dissemination of the teachings of the 
gospel. It was a political and not a religious war, 
and in this political endeavor the missionaries 
and their converts took the leading part. The 
missionaries evidently forgot the legitimate 
object of their mission and unmercifully slaugh- 
tered the natives who took up arms to defend 
their rights. The Christians on Pomare's side 
were fighting for supremacy, unmindful of the 
teachings of the sacred Scriptures. 

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath 
showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judg- 
ment St. James ii : 13. 

When Opuhara fell, his men lost courage, 
retreated, and were not pursued. The death of 
Opuhara was deeply regretted by Tati, his near 
relative and successor in the government of the 
district. In the ranks of his followers it was 
firmly believed Opuhara, few as his forces were, 
would have vanquished the enemy, had not the 
native missionaries been taught to shoot as they 
were taught to pray, and been supplied with guns 
along with Bibles. With the death of Opuhara 
the last hope of the natives was dissipated and 
submission to Pomare's rule became a stern 
reality. Neither the missionaries nor the natives 
had any idea of allowing Pomare to recede into 



MISSIONARY RULE 81 

his old ways. They made him refrain from mas- 
sacre or revenge after the battle of Fei-pi. Tati, 
the chief of Papara, maintained peace from that 
time by his wise rule in that part of the island. 
He began by the usual island custom of binding 
Pomare to him by the strongest possible ties. 
The rapid extinction of chiefly families in Tahiti 
had left the head chief of Moorea heir to most of 
the distinguished names and properties in both 
islands. Marama, the head chief of Moorea, had 
only one heir, a daughter, a relative of Pomare. 
This great heiress, almost the last remnant of 
the three or four sacred families of the two 
islands, was given by Pomare in marriage to 
Tati's son, immediately after Tati himself was 
restored to his rights as head chief of the Tevas. 
In doing so he claimed for his own the first child 
that Marama (the bride) should have and made 
at the same time a compact that the children 
from the marriage should marry into the Pomare 
family. These conditions were made to render 
himself more influential with the most refractory 
of the conquered tribes. Pomare II. died Decem- 
ber 7, 1821, leaving a daughter, Aimata, and 
a son, Pomare III., a child in arms. Aimata was 
never regarded with favor by Pomare, her father, 
who was frank in saying that she was not his 
child; so the infant son was made heir to the 
throne. Moerenhout made the statement that 
Pomare, on his deathbed, expressed the wish that 

6 



82 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Tati should take the reins of the government in 
his hands, but that the missionaries and other 
chiefs were afraid to trust Tati, and preferred to 
take the charge of the infant king on themselves. 
The missionaries in due time went through the 
formal ceremony of crowning the infant, April 
22, 1824, at Papara, and then took him to their 
school, the South Sea Academy, which was estab- 
lished in March, 1824, in the island of Moorea at 
Papetoai. There he was taught to read and 
write, and educated in English, which became his 
language, until he was seven years old, when he 
fell ill, and was taken over to his mother at Pare, 
where he died January 11, 1827. During the 
reign of the infant king, Mata, a friend of the 
family, managed the affairs of state and became 
the guardian of Aimata, as the Queen, Pomare 
IV., was always called by the natives. Aimata 
was married at the age of nine years. She led an 
unhappy life, domestic, political, private and pub- 
lic, until at last the missionaries, English and 
French, fought so violently for control of her and 
the island that she was actually driven away. 

Among other laws which were supposed to 
have been passed through the influence of the 
English missionaries, to prevent strangers from 
obtaining influence in the island, was one dated 
March 1, 1833, forbidding strangers, under any 
pretext, from marrying in Tahiti or Moorea. 
Ariitaimai, of noble birth, the historian of Tahiti, 



MISSIONARY RULE 83 

was not inclined to marry a native chief, a de- 
cision which met the approval of Marama, her 
mother. She finally consented to become the wife 
of Mr. Salmon, an Englishman, who was held in 
high esteem and consideration in the island ; and 
Aimata suspended the law in order to enable her 
friend to be married to the man of her choice. 
The missionaries virtually ruled the island for 
forty years. 



WARS BETWEEN PROTESTANT AND 
CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES 

In 1836 two French missionary priests landed 
at Tahiti to convert, not pagans, but Protestants 
to the Roman Catholic faith. The Protestant 
missionaries, who held the reins of the govern- 
ment, indignant at this interference, invoked the 
aid of the British consul, Pritchard, who caused 
the Queen to order their arrest and expulsion. 
The order was executed December 12, 1836. 
The two priests made a protest to their govern- 
ment, and King Louis Philippe sent a frigate to 
Papeete with the usual ultimatum, to which the 
Queen naturally acceded. Then began a struggle 
on the part of Consul Pritchard and the English 
missionaries to recover their ground, which led 
to a letter from Queen Pomare to Queen Victoria, 
suggesting a British protectorate, whereupon the 
French government sent another warship to 
Tahiti, in 1839, and made Aimata repeat her 
submission. As the British government at that 
time did not take much interest in missionaries, 
and Sir Robert Peel had a very precise knowledge 
of the value of unclaimed islands all over the 
world, Queen Victoria did not accept the prop- 
osition made by the Tahitian Queen, and the mis- 
sionaries were again thrown on their own re- 
sources. 

84 



PROTESTANT-CATHOLIC MISSION WARS 85 

The chiefs ignored the missionaries, and in 
September, 1841, decided that, between such 
powers as England and France, they could not 
hope to maintain independence or even a good 
understanding, and since England refused the 
proffered protectorate, they would turn to 
France. So they drew up the necessary papers 
for the Queen to approve, but a British war 
vessel arrived in that critical moment, and this re- 
enforcement of British interests induced the 
vacillating Queen to refuse to sign them. The next 
August another French naval force arrived, and 
the chiefs again met in council, with the admiral's 
aid and advice. The chiefs sent the following 
letter to the French admiral, Du Petit — Tuhouars : 

Inasmuch as we can not continue to govern ourselves 
so as to live on good terms with foreign governments, 
and we are in danger of losing our island, our kingdom, 
and our liberty, we, the Queen and the high chiefs of 
Tahiti, write to ask the King of the French to take us 
under his protection. 

In response to this formal request the French 
admiral, on September 30, 1842, hoisted the flag 
of the protectorate. This did not end the polit- 
ical and religious troubles of the little island. 
Consul Pritchard, who had been absent from his 
post for some time, returned from England Feb- 
ruary 23, 1843, and declared violent war against 
the French. As usual, Queen Pomare yielded to 
his wishes, and refused to obey those of the 



86 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

French admiral. The admiral lost his patience 
and temper, landed troops and took possession 
of the island, declared the Queen deposed, and, 
when disturbances arose, which he believed to be 
fomented and fostered by Pritchard, he arrested 
him and had him expelled from the island. This 
act excited much attention, both in the English 
and French press, which resulted in an order 
from the King of France to the admiral to restore 
the protectorate. 

It will be seen that the last wars of Tahiti 
were caused by a religious intolerance on the part 
of the English missionaries, who objected to the 
presence of two Roman Catholic priests in the 
island. European governments were appealed 
to and had to interfere in establishing in the 
island free religious thought. It was a fight 
between two religious denominations which kept 
the natives in a state of warfare, a most serious 
reflection on Christian charity, 

Alas for the rarity 
Of Christian charity 
Under the sun. 

Hood. 

The constant unrest of the islanders caused 
by outside interference provoked frequent rebel- 
lions, for "general rebellions and revolts of an 
whole people never were encouraged, now or at 
any time ; they are always provoked." 

The two priests, bent upon a humane mission, 



PROTESTANT-CATHOLIC MISSION WARS 87 

who, by their presence in Tahiti, without any 
fault of their own, incurred the enmity of the 
Protestant missionaries, were the direct cause of 
French intervention which resulted in the pro- 
tectorate and later annexation of the island. 
The priests remained, new ones came, and to- 
day nearly one-half of the population of the island 
are members of the Roman Catholic church. 

The teachings and example of the English mis- 
sionaries and their conduct toward the Catholic 
priests prove only too plainly : 

Christian graces and virtues they can not be, unless 
fed, invigorated and animated by universal charity. 

Atterbury. 



THE LAST WAR 

Our country sinks beneath the yoke ; 

It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash 

Is added to her wounds. 

Shakespeare. 

The disturbances which preceded and followed 
the establishment of the French protectorate in- 
duced the Queen to seek safety on a British ship, 
and the whole Pomare following took up arms 
and established themselves in the stronghold of 
native power and influence near Papeete. Another 
civil war broke out which waged between the 
natives and Europeans from 1814 to 1845. Tired 
of foreign dictation and oppression, the natives 
fought with desperation. Forts, which remain to- 
day in a good state of preservation, were erected 
by natives and the French. Most of the ruins 
of these forts are scattered along the ninety-mile 
drive between Papeete and Papara. From time 
to time, determined attacks were made with vary- 
ing fortunes of war. The natives were superior 
in number but could not stand up against the 
well-directed firearms of the professional soldiers. 
A last and crushing attack was ordered by the 
French admiral, which meant certain defeat for 
the natives. 

It was at this critical time that a woman came 
to the rescue of her people an4 prevented a 

88 




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THE LAST WAR 89 

wholesale slaughter of the heroic defenders of 
the island. This woman was Ariitaimai, the 
authoress of the book we have been following so 
closely in sketching the history of the island. She 
was the daughter of the famous Marama, of 
Moorea, the wife of Mr. Salmon, and the mother 
of Tati Salmon, the present chief of Papara. She 
recognized the hopelessness of the cause of her 
people and determined to prevent further useless 
bloodshed and establish peace. It required good 
judgment and a great deal of courage to under- 
take the task which she finally accomplished with 
such a brilliant success. She was one of those 
who believed that 

Almost all difficulties may be got the better of by 
prudent thought, revolving and pondering much in the 
mind. Marcellinus. 

She was intensely patriotic and had no fear 
of the results of her daring mission. She was 
very popular with the natives and well known to 
the French authorities, which aided her very 
much in formulating and carrying out her plans. 
She had no time to lose, as the decisive attack 
on her countrymen had been ordered and was to 
take place the next day. She called on Bruaat, 
the governor of the island, with the determined 
intention to end the war. He granted her twenty- 
four hours to accomplish her task. She then 
called a meeting of the head chiefs and urged 
them to surrender on the conditions stipulated by 



90 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

the French, in view of the hopelessness of the 
island's cause. At that time this woman was 
the most conspicuous figure in the politics of the 
island, loved and respected by the chiefs and the 
people throughout Tahiti and Moorea. The 
head chiefs received her proposition with favor. 
Notable speeches complimentary to her were 
made on this occasion. One chief said : 

Ariitaimai, you have flown amongst us, as it were, 
like the two birds, Ruataa and Toena. Your object was 
to join together Urarii and Mauu, and you have brought 
them into this valley. You have brought the cooling 
medicines of vainu and mahainuieumu into the hearts 
of the chiefs that are collected here. Our hearts yearn 
for you, and we can not in words thank you ; but the 
land, one* and all, will prove to you in the future that 
your visit will always remain in their memory. You 
have come personally. I have heard you speak the 
words out of your own mouth. You have brought us 
the best of all goods, which is peace. You have done 
this when you thought we were in great trouble, and 
ran the risk of losing our lives and property; you have 
come forward as a peacemaker for us all. 

What beautiful thoughts in simple, homely 

language ! What a splendid specimen of natural 

oratory ! 

In oratory, affectation must be avoided ; it being 
better for a man by a native and clear eloquence to 
express himself than by those words which may smell 
either of the lamp or ink-horn. 

Lord Herbert of Cherbury. 

The chiefs unanimously accepted the terms 
of peace, and after the adjournment of the 



THE LAST WAR 91 

council, Ariitaimai hastened to Papeete with the 
message of the chiefs, which was accepted, and 
once more the protectorate flag was raised 
and was recognized and respected by the chiefs 
and the people. During all these great final 
trials of the island, the Queen remained in the 
island of Moorea and even after peace was 
restored and she was formally requested to 
return, she refused to do so. The French author- 
ities offered the crown repeatedly to Ariitaimai, 
but as often, she refused the great honor. The 
exiled Queen was her intimate and dear friend 
and 

Ennuis has well remarked that "a real friend is 
known in adversity." Cicero. 

She was content with having accomplished a 
patriotic deed and with the respect, love and 
gratitude of her people. 

So true it is, that honor, prudently declined, often 
comes back with increased lustre. Livius. 

She could say: 

Give me a staff of honour for mine age ; 
But not a sceptre to control the world. 

Shakespeare. 



and 



'Tis less to conquer than to make wars cease, 
And, without fighting, awe the world to peace. 

Halifax. 



<)2 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Ariitaimai made several visits to the unhappy 
Queen, urging her to return and resume her 
reign of the island, and had the satisfaction, 
finally, to bring her back from Raiatea on her 
third visit. 

True friends visit us in prosperity only when invited, 
but in adversity they come without invitation. 

Theophrastus. 

The Queen, on her return, was received with 
regal honors by the French authorities and by 
the people. 

Pomare V. was the last of the kings of Tahiti. 
He was the oldest son of Queen Pomare IV. and 
known as Ariiane Pomare. He was married to 
Marau Taawa Salmon, Tati Salmon's sister, and 
had two daughters : Teriimii-o-Tahiti, and 
Arii mainhinihi. Under European influences and 
customs he became a degenerate Tahitian, prof- 
ligate and dissipated, and it is said that he was 
largely responsible for the annexation of the 
island to France as a colony in 1880, as he 
received a substantial remuneration for his in- 
fluence in that direction and a pension of sixty 
thousand francs a year. He died in 1891. Since 
Tahiti has become a French possession the island 
has enjoyed uninterrupted peace. The French 
government has been exceedingly liberal with the 
natives, having interfered as little as possible 
with their habits and customs. 



THE LAST WAR 93 

That is the best government which desires to make 
the people happy, and knows how to make them happy. 

Macauley. 

The island is governed under the French laws, 
but local laws and tribal rule remain and admin- 
ister the local affairs. In completing the eventful 
history of this little island it becomes apparent : 

What is public history but a register of the successes 
and disappointments, the vices, the follies and quarrels 
of those engaged in the contention for power. 

Paley. 

The government has established and enforced 
religious liberty, observing the precept: "The 
protection of religion is indispensable to all gov- 
ernment" (Bishop Warburton). Taxation is 
limited to road tax only. The annexation was 
looked upon with great disfavor by the natives, 
but was finally accepted with good grace, and 
peace and happiness have reigned since. 



THE NATIVES 

The Polynesians inhabiting the islands of the 
great Pacific Ocean constitute a distinct race of 
people, supposed at one time by certain writers 
to be of American origin, now almost univer- 
sally admitted to have a close affinity with the 
Malays of the peninsula and Indian Archipelago, 
and hence classified by Dr. Latham under his 
subdivision Oceanic a Mongolidce. In physical 
structure and appearance the Polynesians in gen- 
eral more nearly resemble the Malays than they 
do any other race, although differing from them 
in some respects, as, indeed, the natives of several 
of the groups also do from each other. Centuries 
and environment have left their impress on the 
inhabitants of the different islands, as 

Everything that is created is changed by the laws 
of man ; the earth does not know itself in the revolution 
of years ; even the races of man assume various forms 
in the course of years. Manililts. 

In stature the Tahitian compares well with any 
other race. The face is expressive of more than 
ordinary intelligence. The color of the skin 
varies from almost black to a light yellow. The 
aquiline nose is commonly seen among them, and 
there are many varieties of hair and complexion. 
In complexion they resemble more nearly the 

94 



THE NATIVES 95 

Japanese than the Chinese. The beard is thin, 
the prevailing hair jet black, straight, wavy or 
curly, profuse and long ; eyes large and black ; no 
drooping or obliquity of eyelids. The face is 
generally roundish; lower jaw well developed; 
no unusual malar prominences ; forehead slightly 
receding; mouth large, lips thick and as a rule 
slightly everted; wide nostrils; ears large; chin 
prominent?" The general resemblance of stature 
and physiognomy, however, is more with the 
Malays than any other race, and from which they 
are undoubtedly the descendants, changed by cli- 
matic influences, food, habits and methods of 
living. In physical appearance the Tahitians and 
Samoans are the handsomest and tallest of all 
the natives of the Pacific Islands, with the ex- 
ception, perhaps, of the Maoris, or New Zea- 
landers. 

The superstition of the taboo, the use of kava 
as an intoxicating drink, cannibalism, infanticide, 
offering of human sacrifices, tattooing, and cir- 
cumcision, which were formerly prevalent in 
Tahiti, have disappeared under the influence of 
Christianity. 

Much has been said about the beauty of some 
of the women of the South Sea Islands, but I 
am sure I do them no injustice if I say that these 
descriptions are overdrawn by sentimental writers 
and do not correspond, when put to the test of 
comparison, with the reality. When young, there 



96 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

is something fascinating about the women, im- 
parted by the luxurious jet-black hair, the large 
black eyes as they gaze at the strangers 

With a smile that is childlike and bland. 

Francis Bret Harte. 

Beauty and youth among the Tahitian women 
are of short duration, and in most of them 
advanced age brings an undesirable degree of 
corpulence. 

Cook visited these people when they were in 
their original physical and moral state. He 
praises their openness and generosity. "Neither 
does care ever seem to wrinkle their brow. On the 
contrary, even the approach of death does not 
appear to alter their usual vivacity. I have seen 
them, when brought to the brink of the grave by 
disease, and when preparing to go to battle ; but in 
neither case, never observed their countenance 
overclouded with melancholy, or serious reflec- 
tion. Such a disposition leads them to direct 
all their aims only to what can give them pleasure 
and ease." 

The whole countenance is a certain silent language 
of the mind. Cicero. 

These mental traits have been preserved up to 
the present time. Melancholy and suicide are 
almost unknown in Tahiti. The people are 
happy, contented and free from care and anxiety 
and 



THE NATIVES 97 

Enjoy the pleasures of the passing hour, and bid 
adieu for a time to grave pursuits. Horatius. 

They seem to know that 

Care and the desire for more 
Attend the still increasing store. 

Horatius. 

Desire for great wealth does not exist among 
the natives. Nature has supplied them with 
nearly all they need, hence little remains for 
them to do to meet their modest desires. 

Religion has not done away entirely with super- 
stition, and has improved their morals little, if 
any. Old European residents of Papeete agree 
that the morality of the natives has not improved 
since they have been under the influence of 
civilization, forced on them by the European 
invaders. The greatest fault of the people is 
their incurable laziness, a vice for which they 
are not entirely responsible, as Nature has pro- 
vided so bountifully for their needs. Robbery, 
stealing and murder are almost unknown; petty 
thefts, on the contrary, are quite common. The 
people, young and old, are affable, extremely 
courteous and hospitable to a fault; the family 
ties strong, and extending to the remotest rela- 
tives. 

Man is a social animal, and born to live together so 
as to regard the world as one house. Seneca. 

Nowhere in the world are the people more 
sociable than in Tahiti. This sociability was 

7 



98 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

perhaps more pronounced before the island was 
discovered than it is now, but it remains to this 
day as one of the prominent characteristics of 
the Polynesian race. Respect and love for par- 
ents, strong attachments to relatives and friends, 
are striking virtues of the Tahitians. They love 
social intercourse and have the highest regard 
for friendship. Poverty and misfortunes do not 
intercept friendships, on the contrary they 
cement them more firmly. 

The firmest friendships have been formed in mutual 
adversity; as iron is most strongly united by the 
fiercest flames. Colton. 

Before European influence had made itself felt 
in the island, each tribe constituted a large fam- 
ily, and property lines were not sharply defined. 
As long as there was anything to eat, no one 
was left hungry. The Tahitians are extremely 
fond of mingling with their relatives, friends, 
members of the same and other tribes. They 
appreciate to the fullest extent that "we have 
been born to unite with fellow-men, and to join 
in community with the human race" (Cicero). 
They treat old age with reverence and respect, 
and take the very best care of the sick and poor. 

Unity of feelings and affections is the strongest 
relationship. Publius Syrus. 

Under the teachings of the missionaries, 
Protestant and Catholic, paganism has disap- 




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THE NATIVES 99 

peared from the island. All are church-members 
and attend service regularly. The denomina- 
tions represented are the Episcopalians, Cath- 
olics and Latter-day Saints in above numerical 
order. Most of the priests and preachers are 
natives. Christianity, has, however, failed to 
suppress immorality and do away entirely with 
the inborn superstition of the natives. The 
former evil is firmly rooted, the latter difficult of 
complete eradication. 

Nothing has more power over the multitude than 
superstition : in other respects powerless, ferocious, 
fickle, when it is once captivated by superstitious 
notions, it obeys its priests better than its leaders. 

QUINTUS CURTIUS RuFUS. 

Wicked habits are productive of vice, and vice 
follows long-standing habits. The Tahitians are 
by nature kind, affectionate, and their opinions 
are easily moulded for good or bad, but many of 
their customs and habits cling to them in spite of 
civilization and Christianization, for "'how many 
unjust and wicked things are done from mere 
habit!" (Terentius) ; and "so much power has 
custom over tender minds" (Virgilius). 

The children of Tahiti are given excellent 
opportunities for obtaining a good elementary 
education. In all of the larger villages there is 
a government school, usually two churches, 
Catholic and Protestant, and their respective 
parochial schools. The natives love their lan- 

LOFC. 



100 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

guage and are averse to the French, hence, as a 
rule, the parochial are better patronized than the 
government schools. The literature in the 
Tahitian language is limited to translations of 
the Bible, catechisms, religious song books and a 
few school books. Children of the better classes 
who seek a higher education, go abroad, in pref- 
erence to the United States. Few show any 
ambition to enter any of the professions with the 
exception of the clerical. The mass of the people 
are content in leading an easy, dreamy life, 
showing no disposition either to acquire wealth 
or fame. Agriculture, manufacture and com- 
merce, have no attraction for them. They are 
children from the cradle to the grave, have the 
desires of children, and are pleased with what 
pleases children. Their tastes are simple, their 
desires few, and instead of in care and worry, 
they live through their span of life in peace of 
mind and contentment. 

But if men would live according to reason's rules, 
they would find the greatest riches to live content with 
little, for there is never want where the mind is 
satisfied. Lucretius. 

In contrast to the Westerner, the favored 
Tahitian can say: 

I have everything, yet have nothing ; and although I 
possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want. 

Terrence. 

The natives are temperate in drinking, and 
frugal in eating. Fish and fruit are their prin- 



THE NATIVES 101 

cipal articles of diet. Their habits in this direc- 
tion have not undergone much change since 
.Captain Cook wrote : 

Their common diet is made up of at least nine- 
tenths vegetable food ; and, I believe, more particularly, 
the mahee, or fermented breadfruit, which enters 
almost every meal, has a remarkable effect upon them, 
preventing a costive habit, and producing a very 
sensible coolness about them, which could not be 
perceived in us who fed on animal food. And it is, 
perhaps, owing to this temperate course of life that 
they have so few diseases among them. 

Smoking is indulged in only to a moderate 
extent, cigarettes and pipe being the favorite 
methods of consuming the weed. 

Art has never had a place in the minds of 
the Tahitians. All attempts in this direction in 
design, carving and sculpture, are rude. Like 
all primitive peoples, they are fond of music. 
Their voices are sweet, but the airs of their 
music are monotonous. The primitive drum, and 
a little crude instrument made of bamboo, some- 
thing like a flute, placed in one of the nostrils 
when played, are the instruments in most com- 
mon use. The national dance, formerly the 
principal amusement of the people, is discouraged 
by the government, but is allowed once a year 
as a special favor to the natives. 



FOREIGNERS IN TAHITI 

Most of the foreigners who remain perma- 
nently in Tahiti become attached to the island 
by marriage, the strongest possible incentive to 
make it their permanent home. Many of these 
men are adventurers. Some of them have honest 
intentions to make this beautiful island their per- 
manent home. Far away from their place of 
birth and relatives, charmed by the beauties of 
the island, they conclude : 

I will take some savage woman ; she shall rear my 
dusky race. Tennyson. 

In many instances such unions have resulted 
very happily. On the voyage from San Fran- 
cisco to Tahiti, I met Mr. George R. Richardson, 
a native of Springfield, Mass., who had lived for 
the last thirty years, with his native wife on the 
little atoll island, Kaukuaia of the Tuamotu group, 
one hundred and sixty-eight miles from Tahiti. 
He was suffering from carcinoma of the 
esophagus, and was returning from San Fran- 
cisco, whither he had gone for medical advice. 
His parents were still living, but he had no 
desire to visit the place of his birth, so fully had 
he become acclimated to the climatic and native 
conditions of the Society Islands. He was then 
fifty-five years of age. He left the United States 

102 




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FOREIGNERS IN TAHITI 103 

March 4, 1874, on a sailing vessel, and six months 
later landed at Tahiti. In six months he had ob- 
tained a fair knowledge of the native language, 
and married in Kaukuaia a woman who could not 
speak a word of English. This union resulted in 
sixteen children, three of whom died, six girls 
and seven boys living at the present time, and of 
these, three girls and two boys are married. 
Through his wife he inherited from her mother 
five acres of land with three thousand cocoanut- 
palms. To this land he obtained a legal owner- 
ship eight years ago by virtue of a law of legal 
registration passed by the government. The 
island on which he lives contains only one hun- 
dred and fifty inhabitants and the only income is 
obtained from copra and mother-of-pearl. 

The inhabitants of this island are Catholics and 
Mormons. A Catholic priest comes once a month 
to minister to the spiritual needs of the adher- 
ents to the faith of his church. The services of 
both denominations are conducted in the native 
language. He and a Frenchman are the only 
white inhabitants of the island. 

On February 16, 1878, a great storm over- 
flooded the island and our American, who spent 
a whole night in the crown of a cocoanut tree, 
lost everything. Only five thousand cocoanut 
trees were left on the whole island. A man-of- 
war came from Tahiti three days later and min- 
istered to the urgent needs of the survivors. 



104 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

The inhabitants of this little island suffer 
frequently from malaria and grippe. The 
latter disease returns regularly almost every 
year. Of the remaining diseases, diarrhea 
and dysentery are the most common. Tuber- 
culosis is prevalent and claims many victims. 
This island has now a population of one hun- 
dred and fifty, and during his residence he 
has never seen a physician, although the in- 
habitants were frequently in need of medical 
services. He was obliged to render his wife 
assistance at the birth of all of his children, and 
strangely, each time without any mishap, either 
to mother or child. What happened on that 
island must have happened on the many other dis- 
tant islands under similar circumstances. Here, 
like elsewhere, in the South Sea Islands, are 
medicine-men who attend to tooth-pulling, and, 
when any cutting is to be done, a scalpel is made 
of a piece of glass. In case of sickness they make 
use of roots and herbs of their own gathering. 



BUSINESS IN TAHITI 

The Tahitian is not a business man. What little 
business is transacted in the island is done by 
foreigners. The larger stores in Papeete are 
owned and managed by French, Germans and 
Americans. The smaller stores in the city, and 
nearly all small shops in the villages, are in the 
hands of Chinamen. 

The fertile soil of Tahiti is not made use of to 
any considerable extent. The sugar industry has 
been tried but has been entirely abandoned, owing 
to high wages for labor and exorbitant freight 
rates. The principal articles of export are copra, 
cocoanuts, vanilla-beans and mother-of-pearl 
shells. Copra (dried meat of cocoanut), brings 
three cents a kilo and cocoanuts are sold at a 
cent apiece. The raising of vanilla-beans was a 
paying industry five years ago, when they com- 
manded a price of seventeen dollars a pound, and 
were then eagerly sought for in the market, as 
they were considered superior in flavor to those 
of any other country. The Chinamen have ruined 
this source of income as well as the reputation of 
the product. These shrewd business men control 
the local market completely and go from place 
to place long before harvest-time, buy the whole 
crop for the year for cash, and have the beans 
picked before they are ripe and mature them arti- 

105 



106 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

ficially. The result of such dishonest trans- 
actions has been that, owing to the poor quality 
of the beans thus treated, the price of the article 
has been reduced to three or four dollars per 
pound. 

The vanilla-bean grows best in the shady 
forests, and requires but little attention except 
artificial fertilization of the flowers and picking 
of the beans. In the West Indies the numerous 
insects fertilize the monogamous flowers ; in this 
island, this has to be done largely by artificial 
fecundation. Women and children do this work. 
With a sharp little stick, the pollen is taken from 
the anthers and rubbed over the stigma of the 
pistil. A child who is active can fertilize fifteen 
hundred flowers a day. It is a great pity that 
this industry has been cheapened by the avari- 
cious Chinamen, as it is an industry that requires 
very little labor and should be remunerative, as 
the soil and climate are peculiarly well adapted 
for the cultivation of this valuable aromatic. 

Most of the fruit which grows in Tahiti is too 
perishable for transportation and is consequently 
very cheap. The largest and most luscious pine- 
apples can be bought for three cents apiece, 
oranges one-fourth of a cent. Alligator pears, 
the finest fruit grown anywhere, are sold at the 
market for two and three cents apiece. At the 
time of my visit, eggs were sold at forty cents a 
dozen. Meat, with the exception of pork, is im- 



BUSINESS IN TAHITI 107 

ported from New Zealand and the United States. 
Most of the native families raise hogs, and this 
animal is found also in a wild state in the jungles 
of the forests. 

The wages, for this island, are rather high. An 
ordinary laborer is paid seventy-five cents a 
day, and the women who are willing to work can 
earn fifty cents a day. The average Tahitian 
works only long enough to procure the neces- 
sities of life, and, as these are few, it is difficult 
to find men and women for ordinary labor and 
housework. 

The fact that there is no bank in the whole 
island shows that the amount of money which 
circulates among the people is very small. Some 
enterprising American attempted to establish a 
telephone line encircling the island, but lack of 
patronage soon paralyzed the undertaking. The 
island is a place for a dreamy, easy existence, and 
not for business. 

The communication with the outside world is 
carried on by two regular steamer lines, one 
from San Francisco, the other from Auckland, 
but both of these lines are supported by liberal 
government subsidies to make them remunerative, 
as the passenger traffic and the exports and im- 
ports of the island would not suffice to make them 
independent of government aid. 



OLD TAHITI 

What will not length of time be able to change? 

Claudianus. 

Tahiti is exceedingly interesting to-day, but 
how much more so must it have been to Captain 
Wallis and his crew, who first set their eyes on 
this gem of the Pacific! When the Dolphin 
came in sight of this beautiful island that never 
before had been seen by a white man, we can 
readily imagine officers and crew straining their 
eyes to see first its rugged outlines, and later the 
details of the wonderful landscapes. Under the 
blue sky and lighted up by the vigorous rays of 
the tropic sun, they could see the mountain-peaks 
clothed in the verdure of a tropic forest, the 
little island set like a gem in the ocean, and, as 
they beheld these mountains and turned their 
eyes upward they could also see 

They were canopied by the blue sky, so cloudless, 
clear, and purely beautiful that God alone was to be 
seen in heaven. Byron. 

As they approached nearer and saw the natural 
wealth of the island and its happy inhabitants 
basking in the sunshine, eating what Nature had 
provided for them without care or toil on their 
part, they must have come to the unavoidable 
conclusion that they at last had found a land 
where 

108 



OLD TAHITI 109 

There was a never-ending spring, and flowers unsown 
were kissed by the warm western breeze. Then the 
unploughed land gave forth corn, and the ground, year 
after year, was white with full ears of grain. Rivers 
of milk, rivers of nectar ran, and the yellow honey 
continued to pour from the ever-green oak. 

Ovidius. 

On landing, having overcome the animosity of 
the natives and ascertained the boundless 
resources of the island, they could not escape 
the conviction that they in their wanderings 
over the limitless sea, had at last found "a heaven 
on earth" (Milton). 

What wonderful stories those men must have 
brought to Europe on their return after the long 
and hazardous voyage, when they related what 
they had seen in Tahiti, then in its primitive 
native state ! Captain Cook made a longer stay 
in the island on his first visit and had therefore 
a better opportunity to study the island, its 
resources and its interesting inhabitants. It is on 
his descriptions we will rely in giving an account 
of some of the traits, customs and habits of the 
people as they existed at that time. 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 

Every one is, in a small degree, the image of God. 

Manlius. 

The most primitive of all races have some con- 
ception of a divinity and a life hereafter, for 

A god has his abode within our breast; when he 
rouses us, the glow of inspiration warms us; this 
holy rapture springs from the seeds of the divine mind 
sown in man. Ovidius. 

Let ns listen to Captain Cook concerning the 
religion of the Tahitians before they knew the 
name of God and the story of the Saviour while 
on earth : 

The common people have only a very vague idea of 
the religious sentiments of the race, but the priests, 
who are quite numerous, have established quite an 
extensive and somewhat complicated system. They 
do not worship one God, as possessing preeminence; 
but believe in a plurality of divinities, who are all 
supposed to be very powerful, and, as different parts 
cf the island, and the other islands in the neighbor- 
hood, have different ones, the inhabitants of such, 
no doubt, think that they have chosen the most potent 
and considerate one. Their devotion in serving their 
gods is remarkably conspicuous. Not only the whattas 
or offering-places of the morais are commonly loaded 
with fruits and animals, but there are few houses 
lacking a small place of the same sort. Many of them 
are so impressed with their obligations to their divinity 

110 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES HI 

that they will not begin a meal without first laying 
aside a morsel for their Eatooa (their god). 

Their prayers are also very frequent, which they 
chant, much after the manner of songs, in their festive 
entertainments. They also believe in an evil spirit, 
they call Etee, who sometimes does them mischief, 
and to whom, as well as to their god, they make 
offerings. 

But the mischiefs they fear from any superior invisi- 
ble beings are confined only to temporal things. They 
believe the soul to be both immaterial and immortal. 
They say that it keeps fluttering about the lips dur- 
ing the pangs of death, and that then it ascends and 
mixes with, or, as they express it, is eaten by the 
deity. In this state it remains for some time ; after 
which it departs to a certain place destined for the 
reception of the souls of men, where it exists in eternal 
night, or, as they sometimes say, in twilight or dawn. 
They have no idea of any permanent punishment after 
death for crimes that they have committed on earth. 
They believe in the recognition of relatives and friends 
after death and in resuming the same relations as on 
earth. If the husband dies first, the soul of his wife is 
known to him on its arrival in the land of spirits. They 
resume their former acquaintance, in a spacious house, 
where the souls of the deceased assemble to recreate 
themselves with the gods. From here man and wife 
retire to their own habitation, where they remain 
forever. 

The most singular part of their faith consists in 
claiming that not only man, but all other animals, trees, 
fruit and even stones are endowed with a soul, which 
at death, or upon being consumed or broken, ascends 
to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and after- 
ward pass into the mansion allotted to each. 



112 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

The temples of the Tahitians were the maraes, 
enclosures of stones, where the offerings were 
rendered, and on certain occasions human beings 
were sacrificed. The largest marae ever built in 
Tahiti is located at Papara and the ruins of 
it remain to-day. At the time of Captain 
Cook's visit there were numerous maraes all over 
the island, which served as places of worship, 
sacrifice and burial. The supreme chief of the 
whole island was always housed in a marae and 
after his death the marae was appropriated to 
his family and some of the principal people. Such 
a marae differed little from the common ones, 
except in extent. Its principal part is a large, 
oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each 
other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, con- 
tracted towards the top, with a square area on 
each side, loosely packed with pebble stones, 
under which the bones of the chiefs are buried. 
At a little distance from the end nearest the sea is 
the place where the sacrifices are offered, which, 
for a considerable extent, is also loosely paved. 
There is here a very large scaffold, or whatta, on 
which the offerings, and other vegetables, are 
laid. But the animals are deposited on a smaller 
one, already mentioned, and the human sacri- 
fices are buried under different parts of the pave- 
ment. The marae is the altar of other nations. 
The skulls of the human sacrifices, after a few 
months, are exhumed and preserved in the marae. 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 113 

Captain Cook counted forty-nine such skulls in 
the marae in which he witnessed the human sac- 
rifice. 

Cannibalism did not exist in Tahiti when the 
island was discovered, but human sacrifices were 
quite frequently offered as a kind "of religious 
ceremony to appease the anger or displeasure of 
some offended god. The victims were tramps 
and persons of no vocation. They were either 
clubbed or stoned to death by persons designated 
for this purpose by the priests. On Saturday, 
August 30, 1777, while Captain Cook was 
stationed at Matavai for the purpose of observing 
the transit of Venus, he received a message that 
on the following day a human sacrifice would be 
made at Attahura, to Eatooa, to implore the 
assistance of the deity against the inhabitants of 
the island of Moorea, who were then in a state 
of war with Tahiti. Towha, a chief and relative 
of the then reigning king, had killed a man for 
the sacrifice. Captain Cook, with several friends, 
accompanied King Otoo to witness the ceremony, 
and describes the event in detail : 

On our way we landed upon a little island, which 
lies off Tettaha, where we found Towha and his retinue. 
After some little conversation between the two chiefs, 
on the subject of the war, Towha addressed himself 
to me, asking my assistance. When I excused myself, 
he seemed angry; thinking it strange I, who had always 
declared myself to be the friend of their island, should 
not go and fight against its enemies. Before we parted 
8 



114 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

he gave to Otoo two or three red feathers, tied up in 
a tuft ; and a lean, half-starved dog was put in a canoe 
that was to accompany us. We then embarked again, 
taking on board a priest who was to assist at the 
solemnity. As soon as we landed at Attahura, which 
was about two o'clock in the afternoon, Otoo expressed 
his desire that the seamen might be ordered to remain 
in the boat, and that Mr. Anderson, Mr. Webber and 
myself might take off our hats as soon as we should 
come to the marai, to which we immediately proceeded, 
attended by a great many men, and some boys, but not 
one woman. We found four priests and their attend- 
ants, or assistants, waiting for us. 

The dead body, or sacrifice, was in a small canoe 
that lay on the beach f and partly in the water of the 
sea, fronting the marai. Two of the priests, with 
some of the attendants, were sitting by the canoe, the 
others at the marai. Our company stopped about 
twenty or thirty paces from the priests. Here Otoo 
placed himself; we, and a few others standing by him, 
while the bulk of the people remained at a greater 
distance. The ceremony now began. One of the 
priest's attendants brought a young plantain tree, and 
laid it down before Otoo. Another approached with 
a small tuft of red feathers, twisted on some fibres of 
the cocoanut husk, with which he touched one of the 
King's, feet and then retired with it to his companions. 
One of the priests, seated at the marai, facing those 
who were upon the beach, now began a long prayer ; 
and, at certain times, sent down young plantain trees, 
which were laid upon the sacrifice. During this prayer, 
a man, who stood by the officiating priest, held in his 
hands two bundles, seemingly of cloth. One of them, as 
we afterward found, was the royal Maro; and the 
other, if I may be allowed the expression, was the 
ark of the Eatooa. As soon as the prayer was ended, 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 115 

the priests at the marai, with their attendants, went 
and sat down by those upon the beach, carrying with 
them the two bundles. Here they renewed their 
prayers, during which the plantain trees were taken, 
one by one, at different times, from off the sacrifice, 
which was partly wrapped up in cocoa-leaves and small 
branches. 

It was now taken out of the canoe, and laid upon 
the beach, with the feet to the sea. The priests placed 
themselves around it, some sitting and others standing; 
and one, or more of them, repeated sentences for about 
ten minutes. The dead body was now uncovered, 
by removing the leaves and branches, and laid in a 
parallel direction with the seashore. One of the priests 
then, standing at the feet of it, pronounced a long 
prayer, in which he was, at times, joined by the others, 
each holding in his hand a tuft of red feathers. In 
the course of this prayer, some hair was pulled off the 
head of the sacrifice, and the left eye taken out; both 
of which were presented to Otoo, and wrapped up in 
a green leaf. He did not, however, touch it; but gave, 
to the man who presented it, the tuft of feathers, which 
he had received from Towha. This, with the hair and 
the eye, war carried back to the priests. Soon after, 
Otoo sent to them another piece of feathers, which he 
had given me in the morning to keep in my pocket. 
During some part of this last ceremony, a kingfisher 
making a noise in the trees, Otoo turned to me saying, 
"That is the Eatooa;" and seemed to look upon it to 
be a good omen. 

The body was then carried a little way, with its head 
toward the marai, and laid under a tree, near which 
were fixed three broad, thin pieces of wood, differently 
but rudely carved. The bundles of cloth were laid on 
a part of the marai, and the tufts of red feathers were 
placed at the feet of the sacrifice, round which the 



116 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

priests took their stations, and we were now allowed 
to go as near as we pleased. He seemed to be the 
chief priest who sat at a small distance, and spoke for 
a quarter of an hour, but with different tones and 
gestures ; so that he seemed often to expostulate with 
the dead person, to whom he constantly addressed him- 
self, and sometimes asked several questions, seemingly 
with respect to the propriety of his having been 
killed. At other times, he made several demands, as 
if the deceased either now had power himself, or 
interest with the divinity, to engage him to comply 
with such requests. Among the petitions we understood, 
he asked him to deliver Eimeo (Moorea), Maheine its 
chief, the hogs, women and other things of the island 
into their hands ; which was, indeed, the express inten- 
tion of the sacrifice. He then chanted a prayer, which 
lasted nearly half an hour, in whining, melancholy tone, 
accompanied by two other priests, and in which Potatou 
and some others joined. In the course of this prayer, 
some more hair was plucked by a priest from the head 
of the corpse, and put upon one of the bundles. After 
this, the chief priest prayed alone, holding in his hand 
the feathers which came from Towha. When he had 
finished, he gave them to another, who prayed in like 
manner. Then all the tufts of the feathers were laid 
upon the bundles of cloth, which closed the ceremony 
at this place. 

The corpse was then carried up to the most conspic- 
uous part of the marai, with the feathers, the two 
bundles of cloth, and the drums, the last of which beat 
slowly. The feathers and bundles were laid against 
the pile of stones, and the corpse at the foot of them. 
The priests having again seated themselves round it, 
renewed their prayers, while some of their attendants 
dug a hole about two feet deep, into which they threw 
the unhappy victim, and covered it over with earth and 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 117 

stones. While they were putting him into the grave, 
a boy squeaked aloud and Omai (Captain Cook's inter- 
preter) said that it was the Eatooa. 

The human sacrifice was followed by the offering of 
dogs and pigs. The many prayers and complicated 
ceremonies attending human sacrifice stamp it as a 
religious rite which has undoubtedly been practiced for 
centuries. In this particular instance it meant a message 
through the instrumentality of the unfortunate victim 
to implore Eatooa for assistance in the impending war 
with Moorea. 

It is very interesting indeed to have an 
account of this ceremony preserved by an eye- 
witness like Captain Cook, and no apology is 
necessary here to have it reappear in all its 
minute details. Another religious ceremony of 
lesser import is circumcision. How this custom 
was introduced into Tahiti no one knows. It is 
more than probable that, in some way it came 
from the distant Orient in a modified form. It 
differs from the Jewish rite in that it is not per- 
formed on infants, but on boys approaching the 
age of puberty. Captain Cook gives the follow- 
ing description of the operation as he observed it : 

When there are five or six lads pretty well grown 
up in a neighborhood the father of one of them goes 
to a Tahoua, or man of knowledge, and lets him know. 
He goes with the lads to the top of the hills, attended 
by a servant; and, seating one of them properly, intro- 
duces a piece of wood underneath the foreskin, and 
desires him to look aside at something he pretends is 
coming. Having thus engaged the young man's atten- 



118 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

tion to another object, he cuts through the skin upon 
the wood, with a shark's tooth, generally at one stroke. 
He then separates, or rather turns back, the divided 
parts ; and, having put on a bandage, proceeds to per- 
form the same operation on the other lads. At the 
end of five days they bathe, and the bandages being 
taken off, the matter is cleaned away. At the end of 
five days more they bathe again, and are well ; but a 
thickness of the prepuce, where it was cut, remaining, 
they go again to the mountains with the Tahoua and 
servant ; and a fire being prepared, and some stones 
heated, the Tahoua puts the prepuce between two of 
them, and squeezes it gently, which removes the thick- 
ness. They then return home, having their heads and 
other parts of their bodies, adorned with odoriferous 
flowers, and the Tahoua is rewarded for his services 
by their fathers, in proportion to their several abilities, 
with presents of hogs and cloth ; and if they be poor, 
their relations are liberal on the occasion. 

How the wise man managed to keep the boys 
together during two such painful ordeals is not 
easy to understand, but as they remained at their 
posts until all had passed through it speaks vol- 
umes for their good behavior and manly courage. 
That the Tahitians possessed many admirable 
virtues during their paganism proves only too 
clearly that 

Virtue is shut out from no one ; she is open to all, 
accepts all, invites all, gentlemen, freedmen, slaves, 
kings and exiles ; she selects neither house nor fortune ; 
she is satisfied with a human without adjuncts. 

Seneca. 




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RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 119 

These virtues, the prayers, the sacrifices, the 
belief in a supreme being and eternity, show 
that the Tahitians were imbued with a natural 
religion, for 

The existence of God is so many ways manifest and 
the obedience we owe Him so congruous to the light 
of reason, that a great part of mankind give testimony 
to the law of nature. Locke. 

The natives had no literature nor any com- 
munication with the outside world farther than 
the neighboring island groups. Their only bock 
was nature, and this was read and studied with 
eagerness and intelligence. Their ancient history 
consisted of legendary lore handed down from 
generation to generation. But 

There are books extant which they must needs allow 
of as proper evidence ; even the mighty volumes of 
visible nature, and the everlasting tables of right reason. 

Eentley. 

From century to century, from generation to 
generation, these people, without leaving a 
permanent record of what had happened and 
without being conscious of art or science, lived 
and died in a state of happiness and contentment. 

For he had no catechism but the creation, needed no 
study but reflection, and read no book but the volume 
of the world. South. 

That ignorance and vice should have existed 
among this primitive people, so completely iso- 
lated from the progressive part of the world, is 



120 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

not strange, as they lived in a land of plenty, fed 
and clothed, as it were, by the almost unaided 
resources of nature, conditions largely respon- 
sible for their inborn laziness. Ignorance and 
superstition go hand in hand. The Tahitians have 
always been extremely superstitious and both 
civilization and Christianization have been power- 
less in eradicating this national evil. We must, 
however, judge them not too severely in this 
matter, as superstition is by no means uncommon 
amongst us at the present day. Our best poets 
are not exempt from it. 

I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 
That shapes this wondrous apparition : 

It comes upon me! Shakespeare. 

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, 
both when we wake and when we sleep. 

Milton. 

A person terrified with the imagination of spectres is 
more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance 
of spirits fabulous and groundless. Addison. 

With the progress and spread of education of 
the masses, superstition will gradually be starved 
out here as elsewhere. The greatest vice of the 
Tahitians is licentiousness, which remains as when 
Captain Cook visited the island. In speaking of 
the looseness of the marital relations, he says: 

And so agreeable is this licentious plan of life to 
their disposition, that the most beautiful of both sexes 
thus commonly spend their youthful days, habituated 



RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 121 

to the practice of enormities which would disgrace the 
most savage tribes, but are peculiarly shocking amongst 
a people whose general character in other respects has 
evident traces of the prevalence of humane and tender 
feelings. 

The Tahitians have reason to claim that 

The vices collected through so many ages for a long 
time past flow in upon us. Seneca. 

Intemperance among the natives has never had 
a firm foothold in the island and tobacco is used 
with moderation. Gambling, such a common vice 
among the peoples of the Orient, has never been 
cultivated and practiced to any extent in Tahiti. 
These ocean-bound people, living in happy and 
contented isolation, had no desire for national or 
personal wealth or fame, neither had they any 
inclination or desire for art or the sciences. They 
believed in the mottoes: 

If you are but content, you have enough to live upon 
with comfort. * Plautus. 

and 

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the 
obligations of gratitude. Sir Walter Scott. 

They lived a restful, unselfish life, happy in the 
companionship of their families, relatives and 
friends, with no morbid desires to distract them 
from the full enjoyment of what Nature showered 
upon them with bountiful never-failing liberality. 

Their customs are by Nature wrought; 
But we, by art, unteach what Nature taught. 

Dryden. 



THE INSIGNIA OF TAHITIAN ROYALTY 

Tahitian royalty was hereditary, and women 
were not excluded. There were chiefs and chief- 
esses governing tribes, and head chiefs and 
head chiefcsses ruling over several tribes or the 
whole island. There were no crowns and no 
sceptres. The insignia of royalty was a belt 
ornamented with feathers. The red feathers 
were what the diamonds and other precious 
stones are in ancient and modern crowns. This 
belt was called Maro. Captain Cook gives the 
following description of a maro : 

It is a girdle, about five yards long, and fifteen 
inches broad ; and, from its name, seems to be put on 
in the same manner as is the common maro, or piece 
of cloth used by these people to wrap round the waist. 
It was ornamented with red and yellow feathers; but 
mostly with the latter, taken from a dove found upon 
the island. The one end was bordered with eight 
pieces, each about the size and shape of a horseshoe, 
having their edges fringed with black feathers. The 
other end was forked, and the points were of different 
lengths. The feathers were in square compartments, 
ranged in two rows, and otherwise so disposed to 
produce a pleasing effect. They had been first pasted 
or fixed upon some of their own cloth, and then sewed 
to the upper end of the pendant which Captain Wallis 
had displayed, and left flying ashore, the first time that 
he landed at Matavai. 

122 



THE INSIGNIA OF TAHITIAN ROYALTY 123 

This insignia of office was highly respected by 
the natives and was handed down from one gen- 
eration of rulers to the other, carrying with it 
the sovereignty of the office. One of the civil 
wars in the island was caused by a failure on 
the part of one of the chiefesses (Purea) to 
deliver the maro to her legitimate successor. 



DISEASES OF TAHITI 

Before the Europeans came to Tahiti, the beau- 
tiful little island was a sanatorium. The natives 
were temperate, frugal in their habits, subsist- 
ing almost exclusively on fish, fruit and vege- 
tables, and lived practically an outdoor life even 
in their bamboo huts. They were unencum- 
bered by useless clothing and spent, as they do 
now, much of their time in sea and fresh-water 
bathing. They were almost exempt from acute 
destructive diseases. They were free from the 
most fatal of acute contagious and infectious 
diseases, such as smallpox, measles, scarlatina, 
cholera, etc. Tuberculosis and venereal diseases 
were unknown before the white man invaded the 
island. The immediate effect of the European 
civilization on the health and lives of the natives 
was frightful. On this subject I will let Arii- 
taimai speak: 

When England and France began to show us the 
advantages of their civilization, we were, as races then 
went, a great people. Hawaii, Tahiti, the Marquesas, 
Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand made a respectable 
figure on the earth's surface, and contained a population 
of no small size, better fitted than any other possible 
community for the condition in which they lived. Tahiti, 
being the first to come in close contact with the for- 
eigners, was first to suffer. The people, who numbered, 
according to Cook, two hundred thousand in 1767, 

124 




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X 

z 

w 

w 
X 



DISEASES OF TAHITI 125 

numbered less than twenty thousand in 1797, according 
to the missionaries, and only about five thousand in 
1803. This frightful mortality has been often doubted, 
because Europeans have naturally shrunk from admit- 
ting the horrors of their own work, but no one doubts 
it who belongs to the native race. Tahiti did not 
stand alone in misery; what happened there happened 
everywhere, not only in the great groups of high islands, 
like Hawaii with three or four hundred thousand peo- 
ple, but in little coral atolls which could only support 
a few score. 

Moerenhout, who was the most familiar of all trav- 
elers with the islands in our part of the ocean, told the 
same story about all. He was in the Austral group 
in 1834. At Raivave he found ninety or one hundred 
native rapidly dying, where fully twelve hundred had 
been living only twelve or fourteen years before. At 
Tubuai he found less than two hundred people among 
the ruins of houses, temples and tombs. At Rurutu 
and Rimitava, where a thousand or twelve hundred 
people had occupied each, hardly two hundred were 
left, while nearly all the women had been swept away 
at Rurutu. The story of the Easter Islanders is 
famous. That of the Marquesas is about as pathetic 
as that of Tahiti or Hawaii. Everywhere the Polyne- 
sian perished, and to him it mattered little whether he 
died of some new disease or from some new weapon, 
like the musket, or from misgovernment, caused by the 
foreign intervention. 

No doubt the new diseases were most fatal. Almost 
all of them took some form of fever, and comparatively 
harmless epidemics, like measles, became frightfully 
fatal when the native, to allay the fever, insisted on 
bathing in cold water. Dysentery and ordinary colds, 
which the people were too ignorant and too indolent 
to nurse, took the proportions of plagues. For forty 



126 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

generations these people had been isolated in this ocean, 
as though they were in a modern sanatorium, protected 
from contact with new forms of disease, and living on 
vegetables and fish. The virulent diseases which had 
been developed among the struggling masses of Asia 
and Europe found a rich field for destruction when 
they were brought to the South Seas. Just as such 
pests as lantana, the mimosa or sensitive plant, and the 
guava have overrun many of the islands, where the 
field for them was open, so diseases ran through the 
people. For this, perhaps, the foreigners were not 
wholly responsible, although their civilization certainly 
was ; but for the political misery the foreigner was 
wholly to blame, and for the social and moral degrada- 
tion he was the active cause. No doubt the ancient 
society of Tahiti had plenty of vices and was a sort 
of Paris in its refinements of wickedness, but these 
had not prevented the islanders from leading as happy 
lives as had ever been known among men. 

These are strong words, but they are neverthe- 
less only too true. Civilization brings to savage 
races curses as well as blessings. The primitive 
people are more receptive of new vices than 
new virtues. 

In 1880 the number of inhabitants had again 
increased to thirteen thousand five hundred, but 
since that time it has been reduced to eleven 
thousand, as shown by the last census. When 
Captain Cook visited the island he emphasized 
particularly the absence of acute diseases. In 
speaking of chronic diseases he remarks : 

They only reckon five or six which might be called 
chronic, or national disorders, amongst which are the 



DISEASES OF TAHITI 127 

dropsy and the fefai t or indolent swellings before men- 
tioned as frequent at Tongataboo. 

The fearful, swift depopulation of the island 
was caused by the introduction of new acute 
infectious and contagious diseases, such as small- 
pox, measles, whooping-cough, la grippe, etc., 
which among these people was attended by a 
frightful mortality. It was only three years ago 
that an epidemic of measles, a trifling disease 
with us, claimed several hundred lives, includ- 
ing many adults, and extended to nearly all of 
the islands of the entire group. The disease that 
is now threatening the extinction of the race 
in a short time is pulmonary tuberculosis. The 
natives are extremely susceptible to this disease, 
and the small native houses, crowded with large 
families, are the breeding stations for infection. 

The French government has at last recognized 
the need of taking active measures to improve 
the sanitary conditions of their colony and pro- 
tect the natives against the spread of infectious 
diseases. A corps of three physicians, sent by the 
French government on this mission, made the 
voyage from San Francisco to the island on the 
steamer Mariposa with me. The names of these 
physicians are: Dr. Grosfillez, surgeon-major of 
the first class of the colonial troops ; Dr. H. 
Rowan, a graduate of the Pasteur Institute, and 
Dr. F. Cassiau, of the clinic of Marseilles. The 
military surgeon receives an annual salary of 



128 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

fifteen hundred dollars, the two civil doctors 
twelve hundred dollars each. They are under 
contract for five years. They have been given 
judicial power to enforce all sanitary regulations 
they see fit to institute. They will be stationed at 
different points and will establish a requisite 
number of lazarettos, something which will fill 
a long-felt and pressing need. 



PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 

The average temperature of the inhabited part 
of the island, which can not be less than 78 to 
80 degrees Fahrenheit, has a relaxing influence 
on the natives and much more so on the small 
contingent of whites. The Europeans and Amer- 
icans find it necessary every three to five years 
to seek for a few months a cooler climate to 
restore their energies and vigor. The govern- 
ment officials and officers of the small garrison 
are not obliged to serve for more than the same 
time consecutively, when they are relieved from 
their posts and commands. It is this relaxation 
which, to a certain extent, at least, is responsible 
for the great mortality of comparatively mild, 
acute, infectious diseases, and the severity of 
pulmonary tuberculosis among the natives. Tu- 
berculosis of the lymphatic glands, skin, bones 
and joints appears to be extremely rare. The 
moisture-laden atmosphere and the suddenness 
with which the cool land and ocean breezes set 
in after the heat of the day, are conducive to the 
development of rheumatic affections, which are 
prevalent in all parts of the island, more espe- 
cially during the rainy season in midwinter. The 
same can be said of bronchial affections and pneu- 
monia. The free and unrestrained intercourse 
among natives accounts for the rapid spread of 

9 129 



130 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

tuberculosis and acute infectious diseases among 
the entire population and from island to island. 

The sanitary commission now engaged in 
efforts to reduce the mortality of the natives will 
establish rules and regulations which will have 
for their object the prevention of dissemination 
of acute as well as chronic infectious diseases, 
and will undoubtedly accomplish much toward 
the preservation of the race ; but these officers 
will meet with stubborn opposition on the part 
of the natives when attempts are made, in their 
interest, to curtail their personal liberties. The 
ties of relationship and friendship among the 
natives are very strong, and become most appar- 
ent in case of misfortunes and sickness. Small- 
pox breaks out almost every year, and claims its 
share of victims. Vaccination is supposed to be 
compulsory, but the natives are inclined to escape 
it. Vaccination is done gratuitously at the Mili- 
tary Hospital for all natives who can be induced 
to submit to it. Under present conditions it is 
almost impossible to reach the inhabitants of the 
small atoll islands. 

Like in all tropic countries, tetanus is of 
quite frequent occurrence. The small native 
pony is found everywhere, and as the rural natives 
are all barefooted and spend much of their time in 
the jungles in impregnating the flower of the 
vanilla-bean and gathering fruits, wounds prone 
to infection with the tetanus bacillus are of fre- 
quent occurrence. 



PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 131 

Malarial diseases are comparatively rare, al- 
though the plasmociiurn-carrying mosquitoes are 
numerous and aggressive, and children in the 
country districts are nude, and the men limit their 
clothing to the wearing of a loin-cloth. No case 
of typhoid fever has been known to have orig- 
inated in the island. For this there exists a sat- 
isfactory explanation. The exemption in this 
island from this disease, so widely distributed 
over the entire part of the inhabited globe, is 
due entirely to an abundant supply of the purest 
drinking water supplied by the numerous moun- 
tain streams. Nearly all the inhabitants live on 
the coast, near the outlet of a brook or stream, 
where, consequently, there is no danger whatever 
of water-contamination. I found three cases of 
typhoid fever in the Military Hospital, members 
of one family, who had been brought there from 
one of the neighboring atoll islands. 

Varicose veins, varicocele and hydrocele are 
very common. The absence of anything like a 
large ulcer in many cases of large and numerous 
varicose veins of the leg, I attributed to the 
toughness of the skin of the bare legs. Venereal 
diseases are widespread throughout the entire 
island, and more especially in Papeete and the 
near-by larger villages. For over a hundred years 
the natives have suffered from this scourge 
brought there by the European sailors and ad- 
venturers. Syphilis has been transmitted from 



132 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

generation to generation until it has contamin- 
ated the major part of the population, for 

The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the 
children. Euripides. 

and 

The wickedness of a few brings calamity on all. 

Publius Syrus. 

The length of time the disease has existed 
among the natives has established a certain 
degree of tolerance or immunity, as it pursues a 
comparatively mild course, as I found very few 
instances of the ravages of the remote results 
of syphilis. I saw only one case of saddle nose, 
caused by tertiary syphilis. 

Leprosy is not as prevalent as in the Hawaiian 
Islands, but isolated cases are found in nearly 
all the islands belonging to this group, being more 
prevalent in some than in others. Segregation 
has never been attempted. The lepers mix freely 
with the members of their families and neighbors, 
and are not shunned by any one. I was informed 
that many of the lepers, much disfigured by the 
disease, seek an island where many of these un- 
fortunates have founded a colony for the purpose 
of escaping from public gaze. There, away from 
relatives and friends, they spend their short span 
of life and await patiently the final relief which 
only death can bring. 



PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 133 

O Death, the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, 
To come to me; of cureless ills thou art 
The one physician. Pain lays not its touch upon a 
corpse. ^Eschylus. 

Elephantiasis in its worst forms has taken a 
firm hold on the natives, especially the inhabitants 
of the near-by island of Moorea. There this dis- 
ease can be studied in all its stages, from a slight 
enlargement of one of the extremities to colos- 
sal swellings, which, when the upper and lower 
extremities are affected at the same time, make it 
necessary for the patient to crawl on his hands 
and feet in dragging himself from place to place. 
Regarding elephantiasis as it exists in Tahiti and 
the other islands of the French colony, I will 
make use of a few extracts taken from a valuable 
paper on this subject by Dr. Lemoine, recently in 
charge of the Military Hospital, and published in 
one of the government reports. According to 
this author, who has seen much of this disease in 
Tahiti and surrounding islands, it may affect 
most regions of the body, and not infrequently 
makes its appearance as an acute affection with 
all the symptoms characteristic of lymphangitis, 
including quite a violent continued remittent 
form of fever, which lasts two or three months. 
The acute form is, almost without exception, 
complicated by synovitis of the joints of the 
affected limb, which he regards as almost pathog- 
nomonic of the disease, differentiating it from 



134 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

ordinary forms of lymphangitis. After the sub- 
sidence of the acute symptoms and in the chronic 
form the disease is essentially a chronic lymph- 
angitits, accompanied by marked enlargement of 
the veins. According to his observations the 
regions most frequently involved are the lower 
extremities, external genitals, and lastly, the 
hands and forearms. Three years ago I was 
given an opportunity to see at the hospital and 
poorhouse at Antigua, West Indies, ninety cases 
of elephantiasis, and not in a single one of them 
did the disease affect the upper extremity, while 
in the French colony of the South Seas this is 
not infrequently the case. I do not know that 
a satisfactory explanation has ever been given 
why the disease should behave so differently in 
fixing its location in the two groups of islands. 
Lemoine, as well as other writers on elephan- 
tiasis, has seen the disease become stationary by 
the removal of the patient to a colder climate. 
Europeans become susceptible to elephantiatic 
infection after a prolonged residence in tropical 
countries where the disease prevails. 

Lemoine does not agree with Manson, who 
believes that elephantiasis is caused by the 
Filaria sanguinis, and is suspicious that the essen- 
tial parasitic cause is a yet undiscovered microbe. 
He made blood examinations night and day of 
patients under his care, and was unable to con- 
stantly detect the filariae in their embryonic state 




GROUP OF TAHITIAN CHILDREN 



PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 135 

in the peripheral blood, and consequently claims 
that the presence of filaria in the organism is not 
an infallible diagnostic indication, and that their 
abundance is not proportionate to the intensity 
of the disease. The fact that the elephantiatics 
improve in colder climates he regards as another 
proof that filariasis is not the essential cause of 
the disease. 

In a number of cases extirpation of the infil- 
trated enlarged lymphatic glands was followed by 
decided improvement, and in the case of a Tahi- 
tian the improvement remained at the end of 
three years. He has also operated on a number 
of cases by partial excision of the mass, first on 
one side of the limb, then on the other, with 
decided benefit to the patient in most of them. In 
some cases deep incisions through the entire 
thickness of the indurated mass afforded relief 
and resulted in diminution of the size of the 
swelling. He relates the details of the case of a 
native, fifty years old, the subject of elephan- 
tiasis of the lower limbs, that he operated on in 
two stages several weeks apart, removing first a 
large section from the anterior and later from 
the posterior part of the swelling, and as shown 
by the accompanying illustrations in the report 
depicting the condition of the limbs before and 
after operation, with an excellent result. How- 
ever, in some of the cases the benefit thus derived, 
did not last for any considerable length of time. 



136 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

In making the excision, the superfluous skin is 
excised with the underlying indurated tissues, 
and the skin margins reflected for some distance 
in order to create sufficient room for a more 
liberal removal of the deep tissues. In one case, 
that of a woman thirty-eight years of age, the 
patient died two weeks after the second operation. 
Death was attributed to loss of blood and the 
debilitated condition of the patient when she 
entered the hospital. In another case, a Tahitian, 
thirty-five years old, affected with elephantiasis 
of all limbs and the external genitals, he operated 
successfully on one of the arms, the seat of an 
enormous swelling below the elbow. The excised 
mass weighed fifteen kilograms. Owing to the 
large size of the swelling, the operation proved 
one of great difficulty, and on account of the ten- 
sion incident to the approximation of the margins 
of the flaps the sutures cut through and the 
wound ultimately healed by granulation. At the 
second operation nearly the entire mass was 
removed, with the result that the wound finally 
healed after a prolonged suppuration and the 
patient was relieved of the incumbrance caused 
by the great weight of the swelling. The relief 
afforded induced the patient to request additional 
operations for the removal of the swellings in- 
volving other regions of the body, but as the 
surgeon soon after left the island his desire could 
not be gratified. 



PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 137 

The climate of Tahiti is not congenial for pul- 
monary and rheumatic affections, as the atmos- 
phere is too moist. It is admirably adapted for 
patients the subjects of nervous affections in all 
their protean forms. The quietude, balmy air 
and pleasing surroundings are the best thera- 
peutic agents to secure mental rest and refreshing 
sleep. It is in the treatment of such affections 
that a trip to Tahiti can not be too strongly 
recommended. 



THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR 

For centuries the practice of the healing art 
was largely in the hands of priests. They min- 
istered to the body as well as the soul. Their 
practice was purely empirical and the surgery, 
even of the most skilled, rude and often brutal. 
The human mind is very much inclined to look 
upon disease and the methods used to effect 
a cure as something mysterious. Even at this 
late day many people who are well educated 
and who in everything else seem to possess a 
liberal amount of good common sense, have very 
strange ideas in regard to disease and the means 
employed in treatment. Promises to cure and a 
liberal expenditure of printers' ink render them 
an easy prey to mysterious methods. All races 
and all tribes have always had among them men 
and women in whom they confided in case of 
accident or disease. Very often priesthood and 
medicine were combined in the same person. 
Among the ancient Tahitians the chief was at 
the same time priest and medical adviser. The 
American Indians had their medicine-men, the 
Tahitians and other South Sea Islanders their 
Kahuna. It is very interesting to know some- 
thing of the early practice of medicine and 
surgery among the Tahitians. Captain Cook 
gives them great credit from what he saw of their 
surgery : 

138 



THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR 139 

They perform cures in surgery, which our extensive 
knowledge in that branch has not, as yet, enabled us to 
imitate. In simple fractures, they bind them up with 
splints, but if part of the substance of the bone be 
lost, they insert a piece of wood, between the fractured 
ends, made hollow like the deficient part. In five or 
six days, the rapooa ? or surgeon, inspects the wound, 
and finds the wood partly covered with the growing 
flesh. In as many more days, it is generally entirely 
covered; after which, when the patient has acquired 
some strength, he bathes in the water, and recovers. 

In speaking of medicine he says : 

Their physical knowledge seems more confined; and 
that, probably, because their diseases are fewer than 
their accidents. The priests, however, administer the 
juices of herbs in some cases; and women who are 
troubled with after-pains, or other disorders after 
child-bearing, use a remedy which one would think 
needless in a hot country. They first heat stones, as 
when they bake their food; then they lay a thick cloth 
over them, upon which is put a quantity of a small 
plant of the mustard kind; and these are covered with 
another cloth. Upon this they seat themselves, and 
sweat plentifully, to obtain a cure. They have no 
emetic medicine. 

In referring to the few indigenous diseases 

he adds : 

But this was before the arrival of the Europeans; 
for we have added to this short category a disease 
which abundantly supplies the place of all the others ; 
and is now almost universal [syphilis]. For this they 
seem to have no effectual remedy. The priests, indeed, 
sometimes give them a medley of simples ; but they own 
that it never cures them, and yet, they allow that, in 



140 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

a few cases, nature, without the assistance of a physi- 
cian, exterminates the poison of this fatal disease, and 
perfect recovery is produced. They say. that a man 
affected with it will often communicate it to others in 
the same house, by feeding out of the same utensils, 
or handling them, and that, in this case, they frequently 
die, while he recovers ; though we see no reason why 
this should happen. 

On his fourth voyage to the Society Islands 
Captain Cook learned to what fearful extent 
syphilis had spread throughout all of the islands 
of the group and became aware what ravages it 
had caused among the natives. On visiting new 
islands he did all in his power to protect the 
natives against this scourge by excluding all 
women visitors from the ship and by strictly en- 
joining persons known to be infected from land- 
ing. On the probable effects of these new regu- 
lations he comments : 

Whether these regulations, dictated by humanity, 
had the desired effect, or no, time only can discover. 
I had been equally attentive to the same object when 
I first visited the Friendly Islands; yet I afterward 
found, with real concern, that I had not succeeded, and 
I am afraid that this will always be the case, in such 
voyages as ours, whenever it is necessary to have a 
number of people on shore. 

Massage as a remedial agent in the treatment 
of disease originated in the Orient, and the Ta- 
hitians were familiar with it and frequently made 
use of it. On this subject Captain Cook can 
speak from personal experience. During his stay 



THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR 141 

in Tahiti in 1777 he suffered evidently from a 
severe attack of sciatica, the pain extending from 
the hip to the toes. King Otoo's mother, his 
three sisters and eight more women came on his 
ship one evening for the purpose of giving him 
treatment and remained all night to fulfill their 
well-meant mission. Here is the account of the 
treatment to which he was subjected by the 
women: 4 

I accepted the kindly offer, had a bed spread for them 
upon the cabin floor, and submitted myself to their 
directions. I was desired to lay myself down amongst 
them. Then, as many of them as could get around me, 
began to squeeze me with both hands, from head to foot, 
but more particularly on the parts where the pain was 
lodged, till they made my bones crack, and my flesh 
became a perfect mummy. In short, after undergoing 
this discipline about a quarter of an hour, I was glad to 
get away from them. However, the operation gave me 
immediate relief, which encouraged me to submit to 
another rubbing down before I went to bed; and it 
was so efficient that I found myself pretty easy all the 
night after. My female physicians repeated their pre- 
scription the next morning, before they went ashore, 
and again in the evening, when they returned on board; 
after which, I found the pains entirely removed, and 
the cure being perfected, they took leave of me the 
following morning. This they call romee, an operation 
which, in my opinion, far exceeds the flesh-brush, or 
anything of the kind that we make use of externally. 
It is universally practised amongst the islanders, being 
sometimes performed by men, but more generally by 
women. 



PHYSICIANS IN TAHITI 

Tahiti is not an Eldorado for doctors. The 
entire island has only eleven thousand inhabitants 
and the great majority of them are too poor to 
pay for medical services. The only place in 
Tahiti where a doctor can be found is in Papeete. 
At the time I visited the island there was only one 
physician in private practice in the capital city, 
Dr. Chassaniol, a retired naval surgeon, the only 
private practitioner in the whole group of islands. 
The bulk of medical practice is in the hands of 
the government physician, always a military man 
who has at the same time charge of the Military 
Hospital and takes care of the sick poor, and 
supervises all matters pertaining to sanitation. 
The only other physicians in the island are the 
naval surgeons on board a small man-of-war 
almost constantly anchored in the harbor of 
Papeete. The government physician is privileged 
to practice outside of the hospital, and from this 
source he receives the bulk of his income. As 
the resident physician and the government phy- 
sician are the only qualified physicians in the 
whole archipelago, it requires no stretch of the 
imagination to realize that until the present time 
the French government has not made adequate 
provisions for their subjects who require the 
services of a physician. 

142 



PHYSICIANS IN TAHITI 143 

The Tahitians have not lost their faith in their 
Kahunas or native doctors, who without any 
medical knowledge, practice their art. These 
men, with a local reputation as healers of disease, 
are to be found in nearly every village. They are 
well thought of and are influential members of 
society in their respective communities. Like the 
medicine-men of our Indians, they make use of 
roots, bark and herbs as remedial agents, and the 
natives, like many of our own people, have more 
faith in this mysterious kind of medication than 
in modern, concentrated, palatable drugs pre- 
scribed by the most eminent physician. To the 
credit of these native medicine-men, it must be 
said that they give to all afflicted who apply for 
treatment not only their services, but also the 
medicines without any expectation of a financial 
reward or even the gratitude of their clients. 



HOPITAL MILITAIRE 

The military hospital at Papeete is the only one 
in the French colonial possession of the Society 
Islands, numbering one hundred and sixty-eight 
islands and containing thirty thousand inhabi- 
tants, of whom eleven thousand live in Tahiti. 
As some of these islands are more than one 
hundred miles apart, it is somewhat strange that 
the French government has not taken earlier 
action in establishing small cottage hospitals in 
a number of the larger islands, as in case of 
severe injuries or sudden illness the natives of 
the distant islands are not within reach of timely 
medical aid and the transportation of a sick or 
injured person to Papeete from the far-off islands 
or villages by small schooners or canoes is neces- 
sarily slow and in many instances dangerous. 
The Sanitary Commission now stationed in the 
islands will, it is to be hoped, act promptly in 
remedying this serious defect in the care of the 
sick natives. 

The Military Hospital at Papeete is an old 
structure of brick and cement, situated near the 
western limits of the city in a large square yard 
inclosed by a high stone wall, surmounted by a 
crest of fragments of glass, which imparts to the 
inclosure a prison-like appearance, the austerity 
of which, however, is much relieved by beau- 

144 




w 

H 
W 
W 

0h 



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H 

l-H 

o 

> 
< 



h6pital militaire 145 

tiful tropical trees, shrubbery and flowers in front 
of the entrance and in the courtyard. The hos- 
pital proper comprises seven buildings, only one 
of which is two stories high. The hospital has 
accommodations for forty beds. The officers' 
rooms contain two beds each ; the remaining space 
is divided into small wards for privates and 
civilians. In one ward, the windows of which 
are strongly barred, are kept the military prison- 
ers, and another small ward is devoted to ob- 
stetrical cases. The rooms and wards are well 
ventilated and clean, the beds comfortable ; the 
hospital furniture otherwise is scanty and antique. 
The drug-room is large, richly supplied with 
capacious jars, mortars of all sizes, herbs, roots 
and a complete outfit for making infusions, de- 
coctions and tinctures, which reminds one very 
vividly of an apothecary shop of half a century 
ago. This department is in charge of a phar- 
macist who, besides mixing drugs, does some 
chemical and bacteriological work in a small and 
imperfectly equipped laboratory. The operating- 
room is an open passageway between two adjoin- 
ing wards, and all it contained suggestive of its 
use were an operating table of prodigious size 
and decidedly primitive construction, and, sus- 
pended from the wall, a tin irrigator, to which was 
attached a long piece of rubber tubing of doubt- 
ful age. The hospital is well supplied with water, 
and contains a bathroom, a shower-bath and 

10 



146 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

modern closets. The hospital is in charge of the 
government physician, who is always a medical 
officer of the colonial troops, detailed for this 
special service, usually for a period of three 
years. From the official reports I gleaned that 
on an average this institution takes care of about 
three hundred and fifty patients a year. At the 
time of my visit the number of patients did not 
exceed fifteen, among them one in the prison 
ward. All of the patients were the subjects of 
trifling affections, with the exception of three 
cases of typhoid fever sent to the hospital from 
one of the atoll islands. The patients are being 
cared for by three Catholic sisters and orderlies 
as they are needed. The poor are admitted gra- 
tuitously ; private patients pay from six to fifteen 
francs a day. The hospital is beautifully located 
on the principal street of the city and faces the 
charming little harbor. A small private hospital 
for the foreign residents and tourists is needed 
here and under proper management would prove 
a remunerative investment. 



THE ISLAND OF PLENTY 

O Christ ! it is a goodly sight to see 
What heaven hath done for this delicious land. 

Byron. 

The wealth of Tahiti Is on its surface. Its 
mountains are not pregnant with precious metals 
nor has nature stored up in their interior material 
for fuel and illumination, as none of these are 
needful to make the people content and happy. 
The Tahitian has no desire to accumulate wealth ; 
the warm rays of the sun reduce the use of 
fuel to a minimum, and the millions of glittering 
stars and the soft silvery light of the moon in 
the clear blue sky create a bewitching light at 
night, which, more than half of the time, would 
make artificial illumination a mockery. Then, 
too, Tahiti is the land of gentle sleep and pleas- 
ant dreams, where people do not turn night into 
day, but rise with the sun and retire soon after 
he disappears in the west behind the vast expanse 
of the ocean. God created Tahiti for an ideal 
island home and not as a place for get-rich-quick 
methods, speculation and bitter competition for 
business, for 

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails, 
And honor lacks where commerce long prevails. 

Goldsmith. 
147 



148 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Tahiti's fabulous wealth consists in its inex- 
haustible soil and the perennial warm, stimulating 
breath of the tropic sun. It is the island of 
never-fading verdure and vigorous and never- 
ceasing vegetation. The fertile soil, the abundant 
rainfall throughout the year, the warm sunshine 
and the equable climate are most conducive to 
plant-life and here these conditions are so har- 
monious that there can be no failure of crops in 
the Lord's plantation. There never has been a 
famine in Tahiti, and there never will be, pro- 
vided the government protects the magnificent 
mountain forests — nature's system of irrigation. 
Tahiti's food-supply is select and never-failing* 
and is furnished man with the least possible 
exertion on his part. The bounteous provisions 
nature has made here for the abode of man are 
a marvel to the visitor and after he has once 
seen them and has become familiar with them he 
can not escape the conclusion that he is in 

A land flowing with milk and honey. 

Jeremiah xxxii:22. 

The food products and fruits grown in the 
forests without the toil of man are admirably 
adapted for the climatic conditions, being laxa- 
tive and cooling, and undoubtedly account for the 
excellent health of the natives before the invasion 
of the island by the Europeans. The island was 
destined for the natives, and the natives were 
suited to the island. 



THE ISLAND OF PLENTY 149 

Man's rich with little, were his judgment true; 
Nature is frugal, and her wants are few; 
These few wants answer'd, bring sincere delights; 
But fools create themselves new appetites. 

Young. 

Content with what the sea and forest provided 
for them, these children of Nature lived a happy 
life, free from care, free from morbid desires 
for wealth or fame. 

O blissful poverty ! 
Nature, too partial, to thy lot assigns 
Health, freedom, innocence, and downy peace, — 
Her real goods, — and only mocks the great 
With empty pageantries. 

Fenton. 
No sullen discontent nor anxious care, 
E'en though brought thither, could inhabit there. 

Dryden. 

The Tahitian people, before they tasted the 

questionable advantages of European civilization, 

had much in common and lived happily in the 

full enjoyment of Nature's varied and bountiful 

gifts. Tribal life was family life, and public 

affairs were managed to suit the wants of the 

people, and if any one in power failed in his 

duties, the people took the law in their own hands 

and corrected the evil, usually without bloodshed. 

If the people were not prosperous according to 

our ideas of life, they were at least happy, and 

We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; 
for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to 
disappointment. Landor. 



TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY 

The Tahitians have no corn or grain of any 
kind out of which to make bread. They 
found in the forests excellent substitutes for 
bread, and more healthful for that climate, in 
the form of breadfruit, wild plantain and tubers 
rich in starch. This is the kind of bread they have 
been eating for centuries, and which they prefer 
to our bread to-day. When the island was 
densely populated and the demand on nature's 
resources exceeded the supply, the natives had to 
plant trees, roots and tubers in vacant spaces in 
the forest, high up en the mountainsides, where 
they grew luxuriantly. without any or little care, 
and by these trifling efforts on the part of man 
the food-supply kept pace with the increase of 
the population. Trees and plants distributed in 
this manner found a permanent home in the new 
places provided for them, and have since multi- 
plied, and thus increased greatly the annual yield. 
Evidences of dissemination of bread and fruit- 
yielding trees and plants by the intervention of 
man are apparent to-day throughout the island 
by the presence of cocoa-palms, breadfruit and 
other fruit trees, and plantains, in localities where 
nature could not plant them, in places formerly 
inhabited but abandoned long ago when the pop- 
ulation became so rapidly decimated by the viru- 

150 




TAHITIAN FRUIT VENDER 



TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY 151 

lent diseases introduced into the island by the 
Europeans. To-day the fruit and fruit-supply is 
so abundant that it is within easy reach of every 
family and can be had without money and with- 
out labor. We will consider here a few of the 
most important substitutes for bread on which 
the Tahitians largely subsist : 

Breadfruit. — Breadfruit is the most important 
article of food of the Tahitians. It is the fruit 
of the breadfruit tree Artocarpus incisiva 
(Linne), a tree of the natural order, Artocar- 
pacece, a native of the islands of the Pacific 
Ocean and of the Indian Archipelago. This 
fruit is one of the most important gifts of nature 
to the inhabitants of the tropics, serving as the 
principal part of their food, the inner tough bark 
of the tree furnishing a good material for native 
cloth, while the trunk of the tree is used as a 
material for canoes. The exudation issuing from 
cuts made into the stem, a resinous substance, is 
in use for closing the seams of canoes. Several 
varieties of breadfruit trees are to be found in 
Tahiti, differing in the structure of their leaves 
and in the size and time of ripening of the fruit, 
so that ripe breadfruit is obtainable more or less 
abundantly throughout the year. The foliage of 
this tree is the greenest of all green, and it is 
this deep green which distinguished this tree at 
once from its neighbors. The male flowers are 
in catkins, with a two-leaved perianth and one 



152 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

stamen ; the female flowers are nude. The leaves 
are large, pinnatifid, frequently twelve to eighteen 
inches long, smooth and glossy on their upper 
surface. The much branched tree attains a height 
of twenty to fifty feet. The fruit is a sorosis, 
a compound or aggregate the size of a child's 
head, round or slightly oblong, light green, fleshy 
and tuberculated on the surface. The rind is 
thick, and marked with small square or lozenge- 
shaped divisions, each having a small elevation 
in the middle. The fruit hangs by a short, thick 
stalk from the small branches, singly or in clus- 
ters of two or three together. It contains a white, 
somewhat fibrous pulp, which when ripe becomes 
juicy and yellow, but has then a rotten taste. 
The fruit is gathered for use before it is ripe, and 
the pulp is then white and mealy, of the con- 
sistence of fresh bread. The fruit is prepared in 
many ways for food, roasted on hot coals, boiled 
or baked, or converted by the experienced native 
cook into complicated dainty dishes. The com- 
mon practice in Tahiti is to cut each fruit into 
three or four pieces and take out the core ; then to 
place heated stones in the bottom of a hole dug 
in the ground ; to cover them with green leaves, 
and upon this place a layer of the fruit, then 
stones, leaves and fruit alternately, till the hole 
is nearly filled, when leaves and earth to the 
depth of several inches are spread over all. In 
half an hour the breadfruit is ready ; the outsides 



TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY 153 

are, in general, nicely browned, and the inner 
part presents a white or yellowish cellular sub- 
stance. Breadfruit prepared in this manner and 
by other methods of cooking is very palatable, as 
I can speak from my own experience, slightly 
astringent and highly nutritious, a most excellent 
dietetic article for the tropics. The tree is very 
prolific, producing two and sometimes three crops 
a year. When once this tree has gained a firm 
foothold in a soil it cherishes, and in a climate it 
enjoys, it exhibits a tenacity to reproduce itself 
to an extent often beyond desirable limits. Of 
this Captain Cook writes: 

I have inquired very carefully into their manner 
of cultivating the breadfruit tree; but was always 
answered that they never plant it. The breadfruit tree 
plants itself, as it springs from the roots of the old 
ones, so that the natives are often under the necessity 
of preventing its progress to make room for trees of 
other sorts to afford some variety in their food. 

The timber is soft and light, of a rich yellow 
color, and assumes when exposed to the air the 
appearance of mahogany. 

Manioc. — Manioc is another important article 
of food in Tahiti and likewise serves as an excel- 
lent substitute for baker's bread. It is the large, 
fleshy root of Manihot utilissima, a large, half- 
shrubby plant of the natural order Euphorbiacece, 
a native of tropical America, and much cultivated 
in Tahiti as an article of food. In this island the 



154 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

plant has run wild in some of the ravines formerly 
inhabited. The plant grows in a bushy form, 
with "stems usually six to eight feet high, but 
sometimes much higher. The stems are brittle, 
white, and have a very large pith ; the branches 
are crooked. The leaves are near the ends of the 
branches, large, deeply seven-parted, smooth and 
deep green. The roots are very large, turnip- 
like, sometimes weighing thirty pounds, from 
three to eight growing in a cluster, usually from 
twelve to twenty-four inches in length. They 
contain an acrid, milky juice in common with other 
parts of the plant, so poisonous as to cause death 
in a few minutes ; but as the toxic effect is owing 
to the presence of hydrocyanic acid, which is 
quickly removed by heat, the juice, inspissated 
by boiling, forms the excellent sauce called 
casarccp; and fermented with molasses it yields 
an intoxicating beverage called onycou; whilst 
the root, grated, dried on hot metal plates and 
roughly powdered, becomes an article of food. 
It is made into thin plates which are formed into 
cakes, not by mixing with water, but by the action 
of heat, softening and agglutinating the particles 
of starch. The powdered root prepared in this 
manner is an easily digestible and nutritious 
article of farinaceous food. The root is largely 
made use of in the manufacture of starch and is 
exported from Tahiti for this purpose to a con- 
siderable extent. The starch made from this 



TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY 155 

root is also known as Brazilian arrowroot, and 
from it tapioca is made. Manioc is propagated 
by cuttings of the stem, and is of rapid growth, 
attaining maturity in six months. 

Sweet Cassava. — Sweet cassava is the root of 
Manihot At pi, a woody plant indigenous to trop- 
ical South America, growing in great abundance 
in the dense forest of the mountain valleys of 
Tahiti. The plant grows to a height of several 
feet and has large long leaves growing from the 
foot of the stem. The root is reddish and non- 
toxic; it can therefore be used as a culinary 
esculent, without any further preparation than 
boiling, while its starch can also be converted 
into tapioca. The Aipi has tough, woody fibres, 
extending along the axis of the tubers, while gen- 
erally the roots of the manioc (bitter cassava) 
are free from this central woody substance. 

Arrowroot or Arm Root. — The commercial 
arrowroot is prepared from different starch- 
yielding roots, but the bulb of the Maranta 
marantacece produces more starch and of a better 
quality than any of the others. It is a native of 
the West Indies and South America, and is culti- 
vated quite extensively in Tahiti. Many little 
patches of this plant may be seen along the road 
from Papeete to Papara, where the lowland soil 
is well adapted for its cultivation. The starch- 
producing plant which is cultivated most exten- 
sively in Tahiti and other South Sea Islands is 



156 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

the Tacca pinnatifolia. This perennial plant will 
even thrive well in the sandy soil near the shore. 
The stalk, with terminal spreading pinnatifid 
leaves, is from two to three feet high and the root 
is a tuber about the size of a small potato. The 
tacca starch is much valued in medicine, and is 
particularly used in the treatment of inflammatory 
affections of the gastro-intestinal canal. 

Taro or Tara. — Taro is another very impor- 
tant food-product of Tahiti, as well as other 
islands of the Pacific, notably the Hawaiian 
Islands. It is the root of Colocasia macrorhiza, 
a plant of the natural order Aracccc, of the same 
genus with cocoa. The plant thrives best in low, 
marshy places. In all of the South Sea Islands 
it is very extensively cultivated for its roots, which 
constitute in these islands a staple article of food, 
excellent substitutes for potatoes and bread. The 
roots are very large, from twelve to sixteen 
inches in length, and as much in circumference. 
They are washed in cold water to take away their 
acridity, which is such as to cause excoriation of 
the mouth and palate. The roots are cooked in 
the same way as the breadfruit, the rind being 
first scraped off. Another very common way of 
eating taro is in the form of poi. This method 
of preparing the root was known to the Tahitians 
when Captain Cook visited the island. He com- 
pared poi with "sour pudding." It requires some 
skill to make poi. The root, finely grated, is 



TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY 157 

allowed to ferment over night. It tastes sour and 
is a refreshing, delicate and nutritious dish, when 
served ice-cold. The plant has no stalk; the 
petioled heart-shaped leaves spring from the root. 
The flower is in the form of a spathe. The boiled 
leaves can be used as a substitute for spinach. 

Wild Plantain. — The wild plantain furnishes 
its liberal share of food-supply for the 
Tahitians. It is a tree-like, perennial herb (Musa 
paradisiaca) with immense leaves and large 
clusters of the fruits. In its appearance it re- 
sembles very closely the banana, but differs from 
it as the hands and fingers of the bunches of fruit 
are turned in the opposite direction. The fruit is 
long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, 
and, when ripe, soft, fleshy and covered with a 
thick but tender yellowish skin. This plant is in- 
digenous to Tahiti and is found in abundance in 
the forests. The fruit is cooked or baked and 
is keenly relished by the natives. 

All of the articles of food I have referred to 
above are easily digested, palatable and nutritious, 
and for the Tahiti climate more healthful than 
bread and potatoes, on which the masses of 
people living in colder climates subsist to a large 
extent. I attribute the comparative immunity of 
the South Sea Islanders from attacks of appen- 
dicitis principally to their diet, which is laxative, 
easily digested and not liable to cause fermen- 
tation in the gastro-intestinal canal. Appen- 



158 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

dicitis does occur in these islands, but this disease 
is extremely rare as compared with the frequency 
with which it is met in Europe, and more 
especially in the United States. The Americans 
are the most injudicious and reckless eaters in 
the world, which goes far in explaining the 
prevalence of gastric and intestinal disorders 
among our people. 




PREPARING BREADFRUIT 



THE COCOANUT, THE MEAT OF THE 
TAHITIANS 

It is fortunate that the inhabitants of the 
tropics have no special liking for a meat diet, 
as the free indulgence in meat could not fail in 
resulting detrimentally to the health of the inhab- 
itants. The continuously high temperature be- 
gets indolence, and indolence tends to diminish 
secretion and excretion, conditions incompatible 
with a habitual consumption of meat. Nature 
has established fixed rules concerning the manner 
of living in the tropics. She deprives man of the 
appetite for meat and other equally heavy articles 
of food, and supplies him with nourishment 
adapted for the climate. It is under such climatic 
conditions that we are made to realize that 

The more we deny ourselves, the more the gods 
supply our wants. Horatius. 

and 

We can not use the mind aright when the body is 
filled with excess of food. Cicero. 

For the preservation of health in the tropics, 
it is necessary that the food should be laxative, 
cooling, easy of digestion and nutritious. Fish 
and fruit of various kinds meet these require- 
ments. From observations and experience, the 
ignorant natives have made a wise selection of 

109 



160 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

what is best for them to eat, and know what to 
avoid. High living brings its dire results in 
temperate and cold climates, but any one indulg- 
ing in it in the tropics will curtail his life, as it 
can not fail to be productive, in a short time, of 
organic changes of a degenerative type in im- 
portant internal organs, which soon begin to 
menace life and never fail in diminishing the vital 
resistance against acute diseases. Luxury in the 
tropics in the way of eating and drinking is a 
dangerous experiment, and it is well to remember, 
especially when living in a hot climate, that 

By degrees man passes to the enjoyments of a vicious 
life, porticoes, baths and elegant banquets ; this by the 
ignorant was called a civilized mode of living, though 
in reality it was only a form of luxury. Tacitus. 

No such mistakes are made by the natives of 
Tahiti as long as they remain true to their 
ancient manner of living. With few exceptions, 
indeed, they lack the means of imitating the 
foreigners in living a life of luxury. Any native 
who departs too far from the simple, natural life 
of his ancestors will pay dearly for the doubtful 
pleasures of a life of luxury. The average native, 
fortunately, has no such inclinations ; he is satis- 
fied to live the simple, natural life his forefathers 
led, and he follows the scriptural advice, 

And having food and raiment, let us be therewith 
content. I. Timothy vi:8. 




SAPODILLA 



THE COCOANUT 161 

Nature has provided for the South Sea 
Islanders something better than beef and mutton 
in the form of meat — fish and cocoanut. Fish 
are very abundant all around the coast of Tahiti, 
and the lagoons, where the fishing is mostly done, 
are as quiet as inland lakes. More than two 
hundred varieties of fish have been found in 
these waters. But the real and best meat for the 
Tahitians is the cocoanut. The meat of this 
wonderful nut contains a large per cent, of oil, 
which supplies the system with all the fatty 
material it requires, and for the tropic climate 
this bland, nutritious vegetable oil is far superior 
to any animal fats. We will give here the 
cocoa-palm the liberal space it so well deserves: 



u 



THE COCOA-PALM 

Through groves of palm 

Sigh gales of balm, 

Fire-flies on the air are wheeling; 

While through the gloom 

Comes soft perfume, 

The distant beds of flowers revealing. 

Sir Walter Scott. 

The cocoa-palm is the queen of the forests of 
the South Sea Islands. The tall, slender, branch- 
less, silvery stem and fronded crown of this 
graceful tree distinguish it at once from all its 
neighbors and indicate the nobility of its race. 
The great clusters of golden fruit of giant size, 
partially obscured by the drooping leaves and 
clinging to the end of the stem, supply the natives 
with the necessities of life. The cocoa-palm is 
the greatest benefactor of the inhabitants of the 
tropics. 

It is meat, drink and cloth to us. 

Rabelais 

Fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirst 
And hunger both. Milton. 

This noble tree grows and fructifies where hard 
manual labor is incompatible with the climate, in 
islands and countries where the natives have to 
rely largely on the bounteous resources of nature 
for food and protection. The burning shores of 

162 



THE COCOA-PALM 163 

India and the islands of the South Pacific are 
the natural homes of the cocoa-palm. It has a 
special predilection for the sandy beach of Tahiti 
and the innumerable atoll islands near to and far 
from this gem of the South Seas. The giant nuts 
often drop directly into the sea and are carried 
away by waves and currents from their native 
soil to strange islands, where they are cast upon 
the sandy shore, to sprout and prosper for the 
benefit of other native or visiting tribes. By this 
manner of dissemination, all of these islands have 
become encircled by a lofty colonnade of this 
queen of the tropics. 

Beautiful isles ! beneath the sunset skies 
Tall silver shafted palm-trees rise between 
Tall orange trees that shade 
The living colonnade : 

Alas ! how sad, how sickening is the scene 
That were ye at my side would be a paradise. 

Maria Brooks. 

The cocoa-palm (Cocos nucifera), is a native 
of the Indian coasts and the South Sea Islands. 
It belongs to a genus of palms having pinnate 
leaves or fronds, and male and female flowers on 
the same tree, the latter at the base of each spadix, 
It is seldom found at any considerable distance 
from the seacoast, except where it has been 
introduced by man, and generally thrives best 
near the very edge of the sea. In Tahiti isolated 
cocoa-palms are found on the lofty hilltops, pro- 



164 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

jecting, with their proud crowns of pale green 
leaves, far above the level of the sea of the dense 
forest and impenetrable jungles. This trans- 
plantation from shore to the sides and summits of 
the foot-hills had its beginning before the discov- 
ery of the island, when the overpopulation made 
it necessary to provide for a more abundant food- 
supply. There it has prospered and multiplied 
since without the further aid of man, yielding its 
rich harvests of fruit with unfailing regularity. 
The frightful reduction in the number of inhab- 
itants since the white man set his foot on the 
island has made this additional food-supply 
superfluous, as the palms within easier reach in 
the lowlands along the shore more than meet the 
present demands. 

The cocoa-palm is a proud but virtuous tree. 
Its dense cluster of delicate roots does not en- 
croach upon the territory of other trees, but claims 
only a very modest circular patch of soil from 
which to abstract the nourishment for the un- 
selfish, philanthropic tree. The base of the stem 
is wide and usually inclined, but a few feet 
from the ground becomes straight and cylindrical, 
with nearly the same diameter from base to 
crown. The curve of the stem is caused by the 
effects of the prevailing winds on the yielding, 
slender stem of the youthful tree, but with in- 
creasing growth and strength, it rises column-like 
into the air, balancing its fruit-laden massive 




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THE COCOA-PALM 165 

crown in uncompromising opposition to the 
invisible aerial force. It is only in localities 
exposed to the full power of strong and per- 
sistent trade-winds that the full-grown trees lean 
in the same direction in obedience to the unre- 
lenting common deforming cause. The full- 
grown tree is, on an average, two feet in diameter, 
and from sixty to one hundred feet high, with 
many rings marking the places of former leaves, 
and having, at its summit, a crown of from six- 
teen to twenty leaves, which generally droop, and 
are from twelve to twenty feet in length. These 
giant leaves furnish an excellent material for 
thatched roofs, and in case of need, a few leaves, 
properly placed, will make a comfortable, water- 
proof tent. The fruit grows in short racemes, 
which bear, in favorable situations, from five to 
fifteen nuts ; and ten or twelve of these racemes, 
in different stages of fructification, may be seen 
at once on a tree, about eighty or one hundred 
nuts being its ordinary annual product. For the 
purpose of answering the requirements of prim- 
itive man, the Creator has ordained that this tree 
shall yield a continuous harvest from one end of 
the year to the other. Flowers and fruit in all 
stages of ripening grace the crown at all times 
of the year. The young cocoanut contains the 
delicious, cooling milk, and the soft pulp, a 
nourishing article of food. The mature nut is 
an excellent substitute for meat, as the kernel 



166 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

contains more than seventy per cent, of a fixed, 
bland, nutritious oil. The tree bears fruit in from 
seven to eight years from the time of planting, 
and its lifetime is from seventy to eighty years. 
Its greatest ambition during youth is to reach the 
clouds and equal its oldest neighbors in height. 
Young trees, with a stem less than four inches in 
diameter, rival their veteran neighbors in height, 
devoting their future growth to the increase in 
the dimension and strength of the stem, and their 
vital vigor to the bearing of its perennial, unfail- 
ing yield of fruit for the benefit of man and 
beast. The stem, when young, contains a central 
part which is sweet and edible, but when old, 
this is a mass of hard fibre. The terminal bud 
(palm cabbage) is esteemed a delicacy when 
boiled or stewed or raw in the form of a veg- 
etable salad. The sweet sap (toddy) of the 
cocoa-palm, as of some other palms, is an es- 
teemed beverage in tropic countries, either in its 
natural state, or after fermentation, which takes 
place in a few hours ; and, from the fermented 
sap (palm wine), a strong alcoholic liquor 
(arrack), is obtained by distillation. The root of 
the cocoa-palm possesses narcotic properties. 
Every part of this wonderful tree is utilized by 
the untutored inhabitants of the tropics. The 
dried leaves are much used for the thatch, and 
for many other purposes, as the making of mats, 
screens, baskets, etc., by plaiting the leaflets. 



THE COCOA-PALM 167 

The strong midribs of the leaves supply the 
natives with oars. The wood of the lower part 
of the trunk is very hard, and takes a beautiful 
polish. The fibrous centre of old stems is made 
into salad. By far the most important fibrous 
part of the cocoa-palm is the coir, the fibre of the 
husk of the imperfectly ripened nut. The sun- 
dried husk of the ripe nut is used for fuel, and 
also, when cut across, for polishing furniture, 
scrubbing floors, etc. The shell of the nut is 
made into cups, goblets, ladles, etc., and these 
household articles are often finely polished and 
elaborately ornamented by carving. This, the 
most generous of all trees, from the time of its 
birth until it yields to the ravages of time, serves 
man in hundreds of different ways, furnishing 
him with food and drink, clothing, building- 
material, fuel, medicine, most exquisite delicacies, 
wine, spirits and many articles of comfort and 
even of luxury. What other tree but the cocoa- 
palm could have been in the mind of Milton when 
he wrote: 

In heav'n the trees 
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines 
Yield nectar. 

The cocoa-palm is a peaceful, modest, virtuous 
tree. It prefers its own kin, but is charitable to 
its neighbors, irrespective of race. It towers 
far above the sea of less favored trees, which find 
in its shade protection against the burning rays 



168 TAHITI — THE ISLAND TARAD1SE 

of the tropic sun and the fury of the trade-winds. 
Proudly it stands guard at the shores of the 
coral-girt islands of the South Pacific, waving its 
lofty, fruit-laden crown, responding alike to the 
cool, refreshing land breezes and the humid 
trade-winds in the balmy air of the tropics. 
Peaceful and lovely is a forest of palms, where 

Leaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the 
forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace ; 
palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the 
poplar sighs for the poplar ; plane whispers to plane, 
and alder to alder. Claudianus. 

The sight of a forest of cocoa-palms from a 
distance is imposing, a walk through it full of 
enchantment. Nowhere does this noble tree 
appear to better advantage than in Tahiti. This, 
the most favored of all islands, is engirdled by an 
almost unbroken belt of palm-forest, stretching 
from the very verge of the ocean to the base of 
the foot-hills, with the towering, tree-clad moun- 
tains for a background; a forest planted by the 
invisible hand of Nature, a forest cared for by 
Nature, a forest which produces nearly all of the 
necessities of life for the natives from day to 
day, and year to year, with unfailing regularity. 
Enter this forest and the eye feasts on a scene 
which neither the pen of the most skilled natural- 
ist nor the brush of the ablest landscape artist 
can reproduce with anything that would do 
justice to nature's inexhaustible resources and 



THE COCOA-PALM 169 

artistic designs. Such a scene must be gazed 
upon to be appreciated. Between the colonnade of 
symmetrical silvery stems and crowns of feathery 
fronds, inlaid with the ponderous golden fruit, 
the eye catches glimpses of the blue, placid ocean, 
the foam-crested breakers, of the still more beau- 
tifully blue dome of the sky, the deep green 
carpet of the unbroken tropic forest thrown over 
the mountainsides, or the naked, rugged, brown 
peaks basking in the sunlight, and on all sides 
flowers of various hues and most delicate tints. 
Surely, 

Who can paint 
Like Nature? Can imagination boast, 
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers, 
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 
And lose them in each other, as appears 
In every bud that blows? Thomson. 

Add to the pleasures flashed upon the mind by 
the ravished eye, the perfumed, soothing air of 
the tropics, the sweet sounds of the seolian harp 
as the gentle breeze strikes its well-timed chords 
in the fronded crowns of the palms overhead, the 
bubbling of the ripples of the near-by ocean as 
they kiss the sandy rim of the island shore, and 
the clashes of the breakers as they strike with un- 
erring regularity the coral reef, the outer wall of 
the calm lagoon, and your soul will be in a mood 
to join the poet in singing the praises of nature : 



170 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

O Nature ! 
Enrich me with knowledge of thy works : 
Snatch me to heaven! Thomson. 

Queen of the tropic isles, guardian of their sun- 
kissed strands, friend of their dusky, simple 
children of Nature ! Continue in the future as 
you have done in the past, to dispense your work 
of generosity and unselfish charity, to sustain and 
protect the life of man and beast in a climate you 
love and revere, a climate adverse for man to 
earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow ! 
I have seen your charms in your favorite island- 
abode and studied with interest your innumerable 
deeds of generosity, your full storehouse for the 
urgent needs of man and your safe refuge for 
the inhabitants of the air. Had Whittier visited 
the island Paradise, your native home, he would 
have written in the positive in the first stanza, 
when he framed that beautiful verse: 

I know not where His islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air; 
I only know I can not drift 
Beyond His love and care I 



TAHITI'S FOREST ORCHARD 

There is no other country and no other island 
in the world that has such a variety of indig- 
enous fruit trees as Tahiti. Add to these trees 
that have furnished the natives with an abun- 
dance of fruit for centuries, the fruit trees that 
have been introduced since the island was dis- 
covered, and many of which flourish now in a 
wild state in the forests, and it will give some 
idea concerning the wealth of fruit to be found in 
the forests of Tahiti. Most of the inland habi- 
tations away from the coast have been abandoned 
long ago, and in all these places, in the valleys 
and high up on the mountainsides, many kinds 
of exogenous fruit trees, planted by former gen- 
erations, have gained a permanent foothold. Here 
they multiply, blossom, ripen their fruit, and all 
the islanders have to do is to gather the annual 
crop. Here delicious little thin-skinned oranges 
grow, and the finest lemons and limes can be had 
for the gathering. The poor find here 

Fruits of all kinds in coat 
Rough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or shell, 
She gathers tribute large, and on the board 
Heaps with unsparing hand. Milton. 

Nothing reminds one more of Tahiti being the 
forbidden Garden of Eden, than the abundance of 
fruit that grows in the forests without the inter- 

171 



172 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

vention of man. Some kind of fruit can be found 
during all seasons of the year, and 

Small store will serve, where store 
All seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk. 

Milton. 

It is here not as in most countries where 

The poor inhabitant beholds in vain 
The redd'ning orange and the swelling grain. 

Addison. 

as the poorest of the poor have access to Nature's 

orchard and can fill their palm-leaf baskets with 

the choicest fruits. The Tahitian 

He feeds on fruits, which of their own accord 
The willing ground and laden tree afford. 

Dryden. 

This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of 
the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees in- 
troduced from distant lands and laden with 
golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit 
trees stand their ground even against the most 
aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter 
to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense net- 
work of branches thrown around and between the 
branches of the imprisoned tree. What a bless- 
ing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering 
under the rays of the tropic sun! How easy it 
is for them to make a cooling, refreshing drink ! 
Take a young cocoanut, open it at one end, and 
add to its milk the juice of a lime or a lemon, and 
the healthiest and most refreshing drink is made. 




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TAHITI'S FOREST ORCHARD 173 

Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves, 
To where the lemon and the piercing lime, 
With the deep orange glowing through the green, 
Their lighter glories lend. Thomson. 

'It is claimed that the large apple family is the 
descendant of the Siberian crab-apple, modified 
by climate, soil and grafting. This statement 
appears to me incorrect, as I have seen a tree in 
the Hawaiian forests which bears a real sweet 
apple which in shape and taste has a strong 
resemblance to the apples of our orchards. The 
tree is from twenty to thirty feet in height, 
slender and few branched. The same tree is 
found in the forests of Tahiti, and its fruit is 
much sought after by the natives. It would be 
difficult to connect the wild apple tree of the 
South Sea Islands with the Siberian crab-apple, 
to which it bears no resemblance, either in the 
appearance of the tree or its fruit. Let us now 
consider a few of the fruit trees which adorn and 
enrich the forests of Tahiti : 

Alligator Pear, or Avocado. — This is the most 
delicate and luscious of all the fruit-products of 
the Tahitian forests, where it is found in its wild 
state in great abundance. It is the fruit of the 
Persea gratissima, a tree belonging to the natural 
order Lauracece, an evergreen tree of the tropic 
regions of America and the South Sea Islands. 
It attains a height of from thirty to seventy feet, 
with a slender stem and dome-like, leafy top. 



174 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

The branches, like the stem, are slender, and 
ascend on quite an acute angle from their base. 
The leaves resemble those of the laurel. The 
flowers are small, and are produced toward the 
extremities of the branches. The fruit is a drupe, 
but in size and shape resembles a large pear. 
The rind is green, thin, and somewhat rough on 
the outside. In the center of the pulp is a large, 
heart-shaped kernel, wrapped in a thin, paper- 
like membrane. The pulp is green or yellowish, 
not very sweet, but of a delicious taste and ex- 
quisite flavor, and contains about eight per cent, 
of a greenish fixed oil. The way to eat this 
delicious fruit is to cut it in two lengthwise, 
remove the kernel, season with sweet oil, vine- 
car, salt and pepper, and eat with a teaspoon. 
In the form of a salad it is one of the daintiest 
of all dishes. The softness of the pulp and the 
richness in oil have led the French to call this 
fruit 'Vegetable butter." The seeds of the alli- 
gator pear have come into medical use at the 
instance of Dr. Froehlig, and particularly through 
the efforts of Park, Davis & Co., a manufactur- 
ing firm. The alligator pear is a very perishable 
fruit, which accounts for its scarcity and fabu- 
lous price in our markets. 

Pawpaw or Papaya is the fruit of the Carica 
Papaya, natural order Papayacecs. It is an ex- 
ceedingly graceful, branchless little tree, which 
grows to the height of from ten to twenty feet 



TAHITI'S FOREST ORCHARD 175 

and is of short vitality. Its natural home is 
in South America and the islands of the Pacific. 
The cylindrical stem is grayish white, roughened 
in circles where the previous whorls of leaves 
had their attachment. The leaves are from 
i:wenty to thirty inches long and are arranged 
in the form of a whorl at the very top of the stem, 
where also the fruit grows, close to the stem. 
The fruit when ripe is light yellow, very similar 
to a small melon, and with a somewhat similar 
flavor. The skin is very thin and the pulp ex- 
ceedingly soft, hence a very perishable fruit. 
The seeds are numerous, round and black, and 
when chewed have, in a high degree, the pun- 
gency of cresses. It requires time to acquire a 
taste for this healthy, very digestible tropical 
fruit, but when once developed, it is keenly rel- 
ished. It is eaten either raw or boiled. It 
possesses digestive properties of considerable 
value, which have been utilized in the preparation 
of a vegetable pepsin. The acrid, milky sap of 
the tree or the juice of the fruit much diluted 
with water, renders any tough meat washed with 
it, tender for cooking purposes, by separating 
the muscular fibres (Dr. Holder). It is said 
even the exhalations from the tree have this 
property ; and meats, fowls, etc., are hung among 
its leaves to prepare them for cooking. The tree 
is of very rapid growth, bears fruit all the year 
and is very prolific. 



176 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Mango is the fruit of Mangifera Indica. It 
is a stately, broad-branching, very shady tree, 
from thirty to forty feet in height, belonging to 
the natural order Anacardiacece. The stem is 
short, from eight to ten feet, when it divides 
into long, graceful branches, with an impene- 
trable foliage, a fine protection against the 
rain and the scorching rays of the sun. The 
bark is almost black and somewhat rough. The 
leaves are in clusters, lanceolate, entire, alternate, 
petioled, smooth, shining, tough, and about 
seven inches long, with an agreeable resinous 
smell. The flowers are small, reddish white or 
yellowish, in large, erect, terminal panicles. The 
fruit is kidney-shaped, smooth, greenish yellow, 
with or without ruddy cheeks, varying greatly 
in size and quality, and containing a large, flat- 
tened stone, which is covered on the outside 
with fibrous filaments, largest and most abundant 
in the inferior varieties, some of which consist 
chiefly of fibre and juice, while the finer ones 
have a comparatively solid pulp. The size varies 
from that of a large plum to that of a man's 
fist. The largest and finest mangoes are found 
in Tahiti. The fruit is luscious and agreeably 
sweet, with an aromatic flavor and slightly acid 
taste. The kernels are nutritious, and have been 
cooked for food in times of scarcity. A mango 
tree laden with its golden fruit is a pleasing 
sight, and reminds one vividly of a Christmas 
tree. 



TAHITI'S FOREST ORCHARD 177 

Lime. — The fruit of Citrus Planchoni, Citrus 
Australis Planchon. The lime tree of Tahiti was 
undoubtedly introduced from Eastern Australia, 
where it is found as a noble tree, fully forty feet 
high, or, according to C. Hartmann, even sixty 
feet high. In Tahiti the tree is small, and in the 
dense jungles hardly exceeds the size of a shrub. 
The stem, as well as its numerous slender, wide- 
spreading, prickly branches, is very crooked. The 
fruit is similar to the lemon, but much smaller 
in size, being only about one and one-half inches 
in diameter, and almost globular in shape, with a 
smooth, green, thin rind and an extremely acid, 
pungent juice. For a thirst-quenching drink, 
the lime-juice is far preferable to the lemon. 

Pomegranate. — The fruit of Punica Granatum, 
a shrub belonging to the natural order Grana- 
tacece. This historic and useful shrub grows lux- 
uriantly and with little or no care, in the fertile, 
sun-kissed soil of Tahiti. More than one-half 
of the interior of the oval purple fruit consists 
of large black seeds. The seedless variety has 
evidently never been introduced. The juice is 
subacid and very palatable. The flowers are or- 
namental, and sometimes are double. The rind 
of the fruit and the bark of the roots possess val- 
uable medicinal properties. Consider for a 
moment what nature has done for the support, 
comfort and pleasure of the inhabitants of Tahiti, 
and we are ready to admit the truth of what the 
prince of poets said : 

12 



178 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Here is everything advantageous to life. 

Shakespeare. 

And we can answer with a positive yes the ques- 
tion proposed by another famous poet, in the 
beautiful stanza : 

Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, 
Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's 

gloom, 
Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, 
And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose? 

Goethe. 




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THE FORESTS OF TAHITI 

The primeval forests are the pride of Tahiti. 
Indirectly they are the wealth of the little island. 
They have been spared the ravages of the wood- 
man's ax. The forests have been kind to the 
natives and the natives to the forests. The avari- 
cious lumberman, the greatest enemy of public 
wealth and general prosperity, has fortunately 
so far not had a design on the magnificent for- 
ests of Tahiti, and may he never be permitted to 
carry on his work of destruction in this island par- 
adise ! The giant trees, growing the finest and most 
valuable timber, hold out much inducement to 
get-rich-quick men, but they have been destined 
for a better purpose; they, with the more 
menial companions, the humble, lowly shrubs, 
attract the clouds, determine rain, retain moist- 
ure and fill the river-beds, creeks and rivulets 
with the purest water. The forests extend from 
the shore to near the highest mountain-peaks, 
making up one great green sea of foliage, inter- 
rupted here and there by the summits of hills, 
ridges, and bare spots of brown, volcanic earth, 
where vegetation of any kind has been forbidden 
to take a foothold. Along and near the coast 
are the charming groves of cocoa-palms, where 
the ordinary trees, out of deference to the queen 
of the tropic forests, are few and modest in their 

179 



180 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

ambition to compete with her in height. Here 
the guava shrub, groaning under the weight of 
its golden fruit, adds to the beauty of the grove. 
A walk through such a grove, with glimpses of 
the blue ocean and the verdant tree-clad hills 
and mountains, will bring the conviction that 

The groves were God's first temples. 

Bryant. 

Raising the eyes and looking up the steep 
incline of the mountains clothed in perennial 
verdure by a dense virgin forest, we are almost 
instinctively reminded of the beautiful lines of 
Dryden : 

There stood a forest on the mountain's brow, which 

overlook'd the shady plains below; 
No sounding axe presumed these trees to bite, coeval 

with the world ; a venerable sight. 

The forest in the tropics has no rest. From 
one end of the year to the other, it appears the 
same. There is no general disrobing at the 
bidding of an uncompromising, stern winter. 
There are no arctic chills to suffer and no burden 
of snow to brave. Most of the trees are ever- 
green, and the few that imitate the example of 
their kind in the North by an annual change of 
their leaves, perform this task almost imper- 
ceptibly. There are no bald crowns and bare 
arms. Spring, summer and autumn mingle 
throughout the year; blossoming and ripe fruits 



THE FORESTS OF TAHITI 181 

go hand in hand in the same tree or neighboring 
trees. A walk through a tropic forest is no easy 
thing, owing to the dense interlacing and often 
prickly undergrowth, but the visitor is amply 
rewarded for his efforts. Every step brings new 
revelations, new surprises. Nowhere are there 
any signs of deforestation, either by fire or the 
cruel, thoughtless hand of man. You are in a 
forest 

Where the rude ax, with heaved stroke, 
Was never heard the nymphs to daunt, 
Or frown them from their hallow'd haunts. 

Milton. 

The biggest trees are in the shaded, rich 
ravines and far up on the mountainside or hill- 
tops. They seem to be conscious of their supe- 
riority and power in the selection of their abode. 
Look at one of these monsters, with wide-spread, 
giant branches and impenetrable foliage, and 

View well this tree, the queen of all the grove; 
How vast her bole, how wide her arms are spread, 
How high above the rest she shoots her head ! 

Dryden. 

But in these forests, so full of life and per- 
petual activity, indications of death are seen here 
and there. The numerous climbing vines which, 
serpent-like, creep up and embrace in their 
deathly grasp some young, vigorous tree, have 
no good intentions for their patient, helpless host. 
The struggle may last for years, but the ultimate 



182 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

result is sure. The cruelty of the unwelcome 
intruder increases with his age and strength. The 
fight for life becomes more and more intense. 
The plant-serpent throttles its victim more and 
more, penetrates its body with its additional 
roots, and sucks the very life-blood from its 
vitals. What promised to become the giant of 
the forest sickens and succumbs to a slow, lin- 
gering, ignominious death. The victory is com- 
plete and he now stands with 

Pithless arms, like a wither'd vine, 
That droops his sapless branches to the ground. 

Shakespeare. 

The ruthless climber ha,s accomplished its 
purpose and it has become so strong and has 
made such intricate interlacements with adjoin- 
ing trees that it holds the corpse erect in its cold 
embrace for an indefinite period of time, until 
some strong wind lays low forever the victor 
with the vanquished. 

Like everywhere else where the soil is fertile 
and other conditions for plant-growth favorable, 
so in the Tahitian forest, rank plant-life prospers. 
The lantana (Lantana Crocca) a shrubby plant 
two to four feet high, with beautiful little yellow 
and purple flowers arranged in umbels, has over- 
run the whole island. It is here, as in some of the 
other islands of the Pacific, the most aggressive 
and most troublesome of all weeds, and it is 
this plant which interferes with a more abun- 




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THE FORESTS OF TAHITI 183 

dant growth of grass and consequently with a 
more productive pasturage in wild and cultivated 
grounds. 

The sense of isolation and solitude is nowhere 
more profound than in a tropical forest, and 
more especially so in Tahiti, as here animal life 
is scarce. The only game found are domestic 
hogs and chickens, which have run wild, and 
these are scarce. There are no birds of plumage 
and few song-birds. Chameleons frequent sunny 
spots, and butterflies, of all sizes and colors, 
enliven the air. There are no snakes and few 
poisonous insects ; no deer, bear, leopards or 
monkeys. Even the ordinary water-birds, with 
the exception of a small species of sea-gull and 
occasionally a crane, seem to avoid this island. 

A day spent in the wonderful forests of Tahiti 
will bring no regrets ; on the other hand, will be 
replete with pleasure and profit, and will leave 
charming pictures on memory's tablet which 
time can never efface. On the brightest day, 
darkness reigns underneath the almost impen- 
etrable roof cf branches, vines and foliage. Here 
and there the sun's rays penetrate through the 
gigantic bowery maze, and fall upon the ground 
with almost unnatural intensity, frequently 
appearing and disappearing as the wind plays 
with the leaves. 

The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind, 
And make a checker'd shadow on the ground. 

Shakespeare. 



184 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

The solemn silence of the forest, the grandeur 
of vegetation, the effects of light and shadows, 
are impressive, and the visitor will carry away 
from Tahiti an inspiring and lasting mental 
picture of 

Her forests huge, 
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand 
Planted of old. Thomson. 



NOTED FOREST TREES OF TAHITI 

The forests of Tahiti comprise many species 
of trees, the timber of which would command a 
high price in the market, but it is my intention 
here to enumerate and briefly describe only a 
few of the trees which interest the visitor the 
most, as he will see them wherever he goes as 
shade trees, and as component parts of the mag- 
nificent forests. 

Purau or Barao is the Hibiscus tiliaceus 
(Linne), (syn. : Paritium tiliaceiim) , order Mal- 
vacece. The flowers are bell-shaped, of a beauti- 
ful canary color, but quickly fall and turn to 
red or reddish brown. They are made up of 
five imbricated petals, painted a dark brown at 
their base and inner surface. The glaucous leaf- 
like calix is five-parted. The five stamens form 
a sheath for the pistil, which is five-parted and 
brown at its apex. The large leaves are used by 
the native housewives in lieu of a table-cloth. 
It is said that the macerated leaves and flowers 
are used to heal burns, bruises, etc. (McDaniels). 
The trunks of the largest trees are made into 
canoes. The inner tough bark serves as a sub- 
stitute for hemp in the making of twine and 
ropes. The roots of this tree have earned a 
reputation as a valuable medicine in the treat- 
ment of diseases of the gastro-intestinal canal. 

185 



186 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

This is a common and beautiful shade tree in 
Papeete, and if the traveler visits the island in 
January or February he will find it in full bloom. 
The dark green leaves and the light yellow 
flowers form a very pleasing contrast. It attains 
a height of from forty to sixty and more feet. 
The short and often very crooked stem sends off 
numerous large branches, clothed, like the stem, 
in a rough black bark. The branches are often 
so crooked and tortuous that they form such an 
intricate entanglement that even the woodman's 
ax would meet with difficulties to isolate and 
liberate them. The branches appear to have an 
intrinsic tendency to reach the ground, and when 
they do so strike root and become daughter trees, 
growing skyward, and soon rival in height the 
parent tree. In the woods it is not uncommon to 
find the parent tree surrounded at variable dis- 
tances by numerous daughter trees. Many such 
ambitious branches are formed into graceful 
arches before they attain the wished-for inde- 
pendence. This tree, with its numerous offspring 
and interlacing branches, contributes much in 
rendering the jungles in which it grows impen- 
etrable in many places. The wood is white and 
soft. The leaves are as large as an ordinary small 
soup-plate, long-petioled, seven-ribbed, broadly 
cordate and acuminate, dark green and glossy 
on their upper, and strongly veined and paler, 
on their lower surface. 




CASCADE OF FAUTAHUA 



NOTED FOREST TREES OF TAHITI 187 

Banyan Tree. — The Fiats Indica, a native tree 
of India, remarkable for its vast rooting branches, 
outstripping in this respect by far the tree just 
described. It is a species of wild fig, has ovate, 
heart-shaped, entire leaves, about five or six 
inches long, and produces a fruit of a rich scarlet 
color, not larger than a cherry, growing in pairs 
from the axils of the leaves. The branches send 
shoots downwards, which, when they have rooted, 
become stems ; the tree in this manner spreading 
over a great surface, and enduring for many 
years. The banyan tree found in the island of 
Tahiti does not spread as much as the Indian tree, 
and the aerial roots which later become a part of 
the trunk after they strike the ground and de- 
velop an independent existence, become sup- 
plied with new roots. Most of the aerial roots 
of the Tahitian tree take their origin from the 
lower part of the trunk and remain in close 
contact with it after they strike the ground, and 
many of them remain dangling free in the air 
in vain attempts to secure an independent exist- 
ence, the branch roots being comparatively few. 
The tree is found at short intervals along the 
ninety-mile drive, and the largest one I saw was 
in the front yard of the Cercle Bougainville, the 
French club in Papeete. 

Pandanus Tree, Screw Pine. — The Pandanus 
Freycinctia natural order of Pandanece. There 
are about fifty species of this tree, natives of 



188 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

South Africa to Polynesia. The pandanus tree 
of Tahiti is a palm-like tree which is found along 
the shore close to the water's edge, with a short 
white stem, much branched with long, simple 
imbricated leaves, usually spiny on the back and 
margin, their base embracing the stem, their 
spiral arrangement being well marked. The base 
of the stem does not touch the ground, but rests 
on a cluster of strong roots, which diverge 
somewhat before they strike the soil. The leaves 
are much used for thatch roofs and the thin, com- 
pact, superficial layer serves as wrappers for the 
native cigarettes. The fruit is edible and is eaten 
by the natives in times of scarcity of food. 

Flame Tree, F lamb oyer. — The Brachy chiton 
acerifolium is the Australian flame-tree intro- 
duced, as is asserted, into Tahiti by Bougainville. 
It is a magnificent and common shade tree in 
Papeete, but is also found scattered all along the 
coast of the island. It is an evergreen tree with 
showy trusses of crimson flowers. This is the 
most beautiful of all ornamental trees in the 
island. The mucilaginous sap, when exuded, in- 
durates to a kind of bassarin — tragacanth. 



VANILLA CULTIVATION IN TAHITI 

The cultivation of the aromatic vanilla-bean is 
one of the principal industries of Tahiti. The 
bean grows luxuriantly in the shady forests in the 
lowlands along the coast, and requires but little 
care. The climate and soil of Tahiti are spec- 
ially adapted to the cultivation of the vanilla- 
bean, as the very best quality is grown here. The 
Vanilla aromatica is a genus of parasitic Orchi- 
dacece, a native of tropic parts of America and 
Asia, which springs at first from the ground 
and climbs with twining stems to the height of 
from twenty to thirty feet on trees, sending into 
them fibrous roots, produced from nodes, from 
which the leaves grow. These roots, drawing the 
sap from the trees, sustain the plant, even after 
the ground-root has been destroyed. Flower 
white ; corolla tubular ; stigma distant from 
anthers, rendering spontaneous fructification dif- 
ficult; leaves oblong, light green, fleshy, with an 
exceedingly acrid juice; flowers in spikes, very 
large, fleshy and generally fragrant. The fruit 
is a pod-like, fleshy capsule, opening along the 
side. The ripe bean is cylindrical, about nine 
inches in length, and less than half an inch 
thick. It is gathered before it is entirely ripe, 
and dried in the shade. It contains within its 
tough pericarp a soft black pulp, in which many 

189 



190 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISES 

minute seeds are imbedded. The plant is cul- 
tivated by cuttings. In Mexico and South 
American countries, the insects effect impreg- 
nation ; in Tahiti, this is done artificially. With 
a small, sharp stick the pollen is conveyed to 
the stigma of the pistil. Artificial impregnation 
of fifteen hundred flowers is considered a good 
day's work. Allusion has been made elsewhere to 
the fact that the shrewd Chinamen have depre- 
ciated the vanilla industry in Tahiti and ruined 
the reputation of the product. If the natives 
could be induced to stop their dealings with the 
scheming Chinese merchants and traders, and the 
government would release them from export 
duty, the cultivation of vanilla would soon re- 
gain its former importance and would yield a 
very profitable income. The Tahitians are not 
agriculturists ; they are averse to hard manual 
labor ; they are 

Of proud-lived loiterers, that never sow, 
Nor put a plant in earth, nor use a plough. 

Chapman. 

and hence are anxious to obtain what little money 
they need with as little effort as possible. Vanilla, 
once planted, requires very little attention, and 
it grows most luxuriantly in the dark shadow of 
the dense forest, where the natives engaged in 
artificial impregnation of the flower and in gather- 
ing the bean are protected against the direct 




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VANILLA CULTIVATION IN TAHITI 191 

heat of the sun. The great advantage of vanilla- 
cultivation to the island consists in the fact that 
this valuable article of commerce can be grown 
without deforestation, so essential in the culti- 
vation of much less valuable products of the soil 
of the tropics. 



THE RURAL DISTRICTS 

Papeete is not the place to study the natives, 
their habits and customs, as European influence 
and example have here largely effaced the sim- 
plicity and charms of native life. The rural 
districts are the places for the tourist to get 
glimpses of real native life. He will find there 
the best specimens of natives, and an opportunity 
to study their primitive methods of living. There 
is no other island of similar size where the 
traveler will find it so easy to visit all of the 
rural districts and villages. By following the 
ninety-mile drive, he can encircle the entire 
island in a comfortable carriage, and finish the 
trip in four days, if his time is limited, and in 
doing so he sees the inhabited part of the island 
and nearly all of the villages. He will see on 
this trip Paea Grotto and cave, also picnic- 
grounds, eighteen miles from Papeete. Papara, 
six miles further, is noted for native singing, 
chanting and dancing. The real Tahitian life is 
met at Pari and Tautira. On the other side of 
the island, the road skirts along the coast and 
ascends five hundred feet above the level of the 
sea. The drive is a charming one, as the traveler 
never loses the sight of mountains and hills, and 
only very seldom, and at long intervals, of the 
blue Pacific Ocean. In some places the road-bed 

192 



THE RURAL DISTRICTS 193 

is cut through solid rock, and for a few moments 
the panoramic view of the magnificent scenery 
is shut out from sight, but on the other side of 
the cut a picture more beautiful than ever is 
unrolled. The ocean claims the first attention 
as it smiles in the dazzling sunshine beneath 
where 

The murmuring surge, 
That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 
Can not be heard so high. 

Shakespeare. 

In the distance we can see the foam-crested 
waves dash over the coral reef in their attempts 
to reach the placid waters of the peaceful lagoon, 
where the wavelets play with the pebbles on the 
shore. Looking toward the left, we again are 
face to face with the mountains, that are our 
constant companions, on the entire route. There 
is a feeling of solemnity which takes possession 
of the soul when communing with Nature in 
her grandest mood, and we begin to feel that 

I live not myself, but I become 
Portion of that around me ; and to me 
High mountains are a feeling; but the hum 
Of human cities, torture. Byron. 

We see the naked mountain-peaks and the bare 
backs of the foot-hills, 

Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun. 

Bryant. 

13 



194 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

We pass through magnificent groves of cocoa- 
palms, and now the road leads through a primeval 
forest with an impenetrable jungle on its floor, 
where 

The winds within the quiv'ring branches playM, 
And dancing trees a mournful music made. 

Dryden. 

We pass through or near the quaint native 

villages peopled with naked children, scantily 

dressed women, and men whose only garment 

consists of a much-checkered, many-colored calico 

loin-cloth. We cross rivers, brooks and rivulets 

without number, and looking for their source 

we see glimpses, here and there, of cascades and 

cataracts, high up on the mountainside, in the 

form of streaks of silver in the clefts of the 

deep green ocean of trees. We see butterflies 

by the hundreds, of all colors, playing in the 

sunshine or eagerly devouring the nectar of the 

sweetest flowers. We admire the richness and 

variety of the floral kingdom, and inhale the 

perfume of the fragrant flowers, suspended in 

the pure air and wafted to us by the cool land 

breeze sent down from the top of the mountains. 

As the sun approaches the horizon, and the short, 

bewitching twilight sets in, w r ith the gorgeous 

display of colors in the sky and the wonderful 

effects of light and shadow on sea and shore, 

we can realize that 



THE RURAL DISTRICTS 195 

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western 

horizon 
Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the 

landscape; 
Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky, and water, and 

forest, 
Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled 

together. 

Longfellow. 

The vistas and views along this circular drive 
are infinite ; the surprises at every turn without 
number. No matter how much the visitor may 
have traveled, even if he has seen the whole 
world outside of this blessed island, he will see 
here many things he has never seen before. 
Every step brings new revelations of the beauty 
and goodness of Nature and her tender care for 
man. What a paradise for lovers of nature, 
for poets and artists ! Here is a place above all 
others in the world, where 

No tears 
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears. 

Longfellow. 

The further the visitor wends his way from 
Papeete, the more he will find the natives in their 
natural state, and the less contaminated by Euro- 
pean influence. On the opposite side of the 
island, at Pari, the people have preserved their 
native customs, and live now about in the same 
manner as when Wallis discovered the island. 
Religion and civilization have liberated them 



196 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

from ancient barbarities, but have had little in- 
fluence in changing their customs, for 

Custom has an ascendency over the understanding. 

Dr. I. Watts. 

All of the villages scattered at short intervals 
along the ninety-mile drive are small ; the largest 
with not more than five hundred inhabitants. In 
Papeete, and between it and Papara, the natives 
live in small frame houses, built on piling several 
feet above the ground, covered with a roof of 
corrugated iron, and made more spacious and 
comfortable by a veranda facing the road. Few 
native houses are encountered on this part of the 
journey. Beyond Papara they are the rule, and 
these retain their primitive charm. They are 
built of upright sticks of bamboo, lashed side by 
side to a frame of stripped poles in the form of 
an oval. Upon this is a heavy roof of pandanus 
thatch covering a cool, well-ventilated, sanitary 
home. The air circulates freely through the open 
spaces between the poles, as well as between the 
two doorways on opposite sides of the house. 
Mats take the place of a floor. 

Cooking is done outside without the use of a 
stove. The native oven is a very simple affair, 
as it consists of a layer of stones upon which a 
fire is built. When heated to the requisite degree 
— and this is a matter the experienced housewife 
must determine — the food is placed amid the 



THE RURAL DISTRICTS 197 

embers, wrapped in pieces of banana leaves and 
covered over with piles of damp breadfruit leaves. 
Breadfruit, taro, green bananas and plantains, 
are the articles of food prepared in this way. 
The roasting of a pig, the favorite meat of the 
South Sea Islanders, is a more complicated proc- 
ess, and to do it well requires much experience. 
A hole is dug in the ground and paved with 
stones, upon which a fire is built. When the stones 
are thoroughly heated and the fire exhausted or 
extinguished, the whole animal, properly pre- 
pared and wrapped in leaves, is placed in the 
pit, covered with damp leaves and loose earth. 
On great festive occasions, fowl and fish are 
added to the contents of the pit. The pork, fowl 
and fish cooked in this manner are delicious, and 
the slightly smoky taste only adds to their savori- 
ness. It is the pride of the cook to remove the 
roasted pig without mutilation, usually a very 
delicate task. Chicken, boiled in the milk of the 
cocoanut, is another masterpiece of native cook- 
ery. The cocoanut is prepared in many ways for 
the table and a sauce made of the compressed 
juice of the grated nut, mixed with lime juice 
and sea-water, makes a most palatable sauce for 
meats and fish. 

House-building and housekeeping are free 
from care and never ruffle the family peace. If 
a young couple desire to establish a home of their 
own, they signify their intentions to their friends 



198 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

'and neighbors. These gather, usually Sunday 
afternoon at two o'clock, at the place selected for 
the new home, bring bamboo sticks, poles and 
pandanus leaves, and at sundown the house is 
ready for occupation. The pandanus roof does 
efficient service for about seven years, when it 
has to be removed and replaced by a new one. 
The bamboo framework, properly protected, lasts 
for a much longer time. As the whole house 
consists of a single oval room, is floorless and not 
encumbered by furniture of any kind, the house- 
wife has an easy existence, more especially as 
the children can not outwear their clothing, and 
their husband's loin-cloths need no repairs. 

While meat in Tahiti is scarce, every family 
has an easy access to a rich fish-supply. The 
fish which swarm in the lagoons and outside of 
the reefs furnish an easily secured food-supply. 
They are caught in different ways — by hook or 
netting — and not the least picturesque way is the 
torchlight fishing on the lagoon. Torches are 
improvised of long cocoa-palm leaves tied into 
rolls. With a boat-load of these, together with 
nets and spears, the fishermen in their canoes 
paddle out upon the water after dark. Flying 
fish, attracted by the light, shoot overhead and 
are dexterously caught in a hand-net. Other 
kinds of fish, by aid of the light, are speared 
over the side of the canoe. Dolphin and bonita, 
the latter a favorite fish, are taken with the hook 



THE RURAL DISTRICTS 199 

and line, in larger canoes sailing on the open sea, 
but this kind of fishing is left to a few hardy men. 
The women scoop up small river-fish in baskets, 
and drag-nets are used in capturing the many 
varieties of small fish of the lagoon. While the 
fish are being cooked in the underground oven, 
some member of the family goes into the adjacent 
forest and in a short time returns with bread- 
fruit, and a variety of fruits, to make up a dainty 
and substantial repast. 

The island is divided into seventeen districts 
and each district has its own chief, who is en- 
trusted with the local government. The chiefs 
are elected by popular vote every few years, the 
office being no longer hereditary. The chief re- 
sides in the principal village of his district and 
here is to be invariably found a government 
school, a Protestant and a Catholic church with 
its respective parochial school, and a meeting- 
house which serves as a gathering-place for the 
annual native plays and on all occasions of public 
concern. A daily mail supplies the rural popu- 
lation with the news of the island and keeps them 
in touch with the outside world. Abject poverty 
in the city and country is unknown, and begging 
is looked upon as a disgrace. There is neither 
wealth nor poverty in Tahiti. The people have 
all they need and all they desire, and 

Poor and content is rich, and rich enough. 

Shakespeare. 



200 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

I am quite sure that the tourist who has tasted 
freely of modern life such as it now is in our 
large cities, with all its cares and temptations, 
all its unrealness and disappointments, when he 
has seen the happy, contented, free-from-care 
Tahitians, in their charming island and simple 
homes, will be willing to confess : 

For my part, I should prefer to be always poor, in 
blessings such as these. Horatius. 

and 

Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation 
has an unstable foundation. Seneca. 




ON THE NINETY-MILE ROAD 



POINT VENUS 

Every visitor to Tahiti should visit Point 
Venus, as it is a historic place near where the 
Europeans made their first landings in Matavai 
Bay, and where the first white settlers cast their 
lot with the natives. It is in this neighborhood 
where the English missionaries established their 
permanent home and from here spread the new 
tidings of the gospel over the entire island. They 
labored in vain for nearly twenty years, when all 
at once a religious wave swept over the island 
which resulted in the speedy Christianization of 
almost the entire population. I have already re- 
ferred to Point Venus as the place where the 
government lighthouse is located and where 
Captain Cook had his headquarters when he and 
the scientists who accompanied him observed the 
transit of Venus by order of the English govern- 
ment in the year 1769. The place where the 
scientific observations were made is marked by 
a modest monument of stone surrounded by an 
iron railing, on which are inscribed the data 
commemorative of the work accomplished. Close 
by this monument, on the most prominent point, 
has been erected the lighthouse which guides 
the mariner in approaching the island during 
the night. The distance from Papeete to Point 
Venus is seven miles, over a macadamized road 

201 



202 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

which we found in a somewhat neglected condi- 
tion. Two native villages, Pirae and Arue, are 
passed on the way, and a third, Haapape, is close 
by. The road leads through groves of cocoa- 
palms, primeval forests and jungles, and a part 
of it skirts the foot-hills of the towering moun- 
tains. Most of the time the beautiful lagoon, 
dotted here and there with fishermen's canoes, 
is in sight. The calmness of the air, the solemnity 
of the surroundings and the sight of these canoes 
on the unruffled lagoon, reminded us of 

Low stir of leaves and dip of oars 
And lapsing waves on quiet shores. 

Whittier. 

Some of the more daring fishermen we saw 
outside of the reef, in the same frail crafts, 
battling with a rougher sea, but the skilled use 
of their very primitive paddles kept the canoes 
in good motion and steady, and it seemed 

She walks the waters like a thing of life, 
And seems to dare the elements to strife. 

Byron. 

Matavai Bay, which the road follows for a 
considerable distance, is a beautiful sheet of 
water. It was in this bay that the ships of the 
early voyagers found a resting-place, and where 
on its shore the first white men touched the soil 
of Tahiti and came face to face with a people 
who had never heard of a world outside of the 



POINT VENUS 203 

islands of the Pacific. The scenery all along 
this drive is truly tropical. The floral wealth 
is great and its variety endless. It was on this 
drive I found the passion-flower in full bloom 
and exquisite beauty. 

Near Point Venus we met a gang of natives, 
in charge of the chief of the district, engaged 
in repairing the road. All except the chief 
were in loin-cloths as their only article of dress. 
They worked leisurely, and smoked and chatted 
in a way that showed that they were happy even 
when bearing the burden of the day and the 
scorching rays of the tropic sun, with nothing 
in view for their ten-o'clock breakfast but the 
cool mountain water instead of coffee, breadfruit 
or plantain (fei) for bread, and some fruit gath- 
ered in the woods on their way to work. 

The round trip from Papeete to Point Venus 
Can be made in three hours, and gives one a very 
excellent idea of the general topography of the 
island and is replete with both pleasure and 
profit. 



FAUTAHUA VALLEY 

The next interesting short drive from Papeete 
is to the Fautahua Valley, distance four miles. 
It is noted for delightful river scenery and tropic 
vegetation, and at the end of the valley is a 
beautiful waterfall. This charming valley, with 
its typical tropic scenery enclosed by towering 
mountains and resounding with the rippling, 
dashing music of a turbulent mountain stream 
and the babbling and murmuring of the many 
brooks and rivulets of pure crystal water which 
feed it, is well worth a visit. This valley was 
once densely populated, if we can judge from the 
abundance of imported fruit trees and the coffee 
shrub which now flourish in the forest unaided 
by the care of man, while, at the present time, 
the native huts are few and far apart. Wild 
arrowroot grows here in profusion, and a variety 
of exogenous shade trees have become an impor- 
tant component part of the primeval forest, ren- 
dered almost impenetrable by vines and a dense 
undergrowth. A carriage-road extends to 
Fashoda Bridge, well up in the mountains, be- 
yond which it leads up the gorge, past a waterfall 
which leaps over a rocky rim, where the moun- 
tains join to the bed of the stream, six hundred 
feet below. In different places the romantic 
mountain road is spanned by graceful arches of 

204 



FAUTAHUA VALLEY 205 

branches of the pauru tree, ambitious to find on 
the opposite side of the road an independent 
existence from the parent tree. One of the large, 
quiet pools below the Fashoda Bridge, a favorite 
bathing-place for women and their daughters, 
has been made famous by the writings of Pierre 
Loti, a French author. 

From Fashoda Bridge a bridle path leads up 
a very steep incline to the French military post 
in the very heart of the mountains, six thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. It was here that 
the natives made their last stand in their war 
with France. A little beyond the fort rise the 
crags which compose "the Diadem," a conspic- 
uous landmark in the mountains of Tahiti. 

The view from Fashoda Bridge in all direc- 
tions is inspiring: at the end of the gorge the 
waterfall dashing over the volcanic rock, pul- 
verized at many points in its descent into silvery 
spray ; the tree-clad mountains on each side with 
their steeples of bare rock ; beneath, the wild 
mountain stream, speeding to find rest in the 
quiet basin below ; and all around, the rank vege- 
tation which only the tropics under the most 
favorable conditions can grow, and above, the 
clear blue sky, brilliantly illuminated, by the 
morning sun. As late as nine o'clock in the 
forenoon we found everything bathed in a heavy 
dew, which added much to the beauty and fresh- 
ness of the incomparable scenery. 



206 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Xear the bridge, leading a pack-mule, we met 
a soldier on his way to the city for supplies 
for the small garrison in charge of the fort. 
Military duty at this lone isolated station must 
certainly prove monotonous, as from the bridge 
the only way to reach the fort is either on foot 
or mule-back. The quietude of this peaceful 
valley, at the time of our visit, was disturbed by 
a large force of native laborers who were laying 
the pipes for the new city waterworks. 



VILLAGE OF PAPARA 

The village of Papara, the largest in the 
island, has been the acknowledged stronghold of 
the Tevas for centuries. Here the powerful 
chiefs of the clan have ruled their subjects with 
an inborn sense of justice until their jurisdiction 
and, power were curtailed by foreign inter- 
vention. For a long time the ruling house of 
the Tevas dominated the social and political life 
of the island. It was at Papara that the largest 
and most imposing marae was built, consisting 
of a huge pile of stones in the form of a 
truncated cone, the ruins of which still remain 
as a silent reminder of the political power of 
the Tevas long before the white man cast his 
greedy eyes upon this island paradise. 

The district of Papara, of which the village 
of about five hundred inhabitants is the seat of 
the local government, is the most fertile and 
prosperous of all the seventeen districts into 
which the island is at present divided. Tati 
Salmon, son of Ariitaimai, the famed chiefess 
and historian of the island, is the present chief. 
He was educated in London, is highly respected 
by the foreigners and natives alike, and owns 
about one-third of the island. He lives in a 
charming old-fashioned house, the original part 
of which was built more than a century ago. The 

207 



208 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

house is situated at the mouth of a large moun- 
tain stream, and faces the broad lagoon hemmed 
in by a coral reef, over which the surf dashes 
from day to day and from year to year with the 
same regularity, with the same splashing and 
moaning sounds of the waves as they leap from 
the restless ocean beyond into the peaceful bosom 
of the calm lagoon. 

Papara, like all of the native villages, is located 
on the circular road familiarly known as the 
ninety-mile drive. The road from Papeete to 
Papara, a distance of twenty miles, leads through 
the most picturesque and interesting part of the 
island. The road is a genuine chaussee, con- 
structed at great expense by the French govern- 
ment, and is kept in excellent repair. For the 
most part it follows the coast in full view of the 
lagoon and the ocean beyond, and, for more than 
one-half of the distance, the smaller volcanic 
sister island, Moorea, is in sight. The mountains 
are constantly in sight, ceaselessly changing in 
their aspects with distance and change of per- 
spective. The narrow strip of coast-land is cov- 
ered with a thick layer of the most productive 
soil upon a foundation of rock and red volcanic 
earth. Vegetation everywhere is rampant and 
extends from the very edge of the lagoon to the 
naked pinnacles of the mountains. In many 
places the road skirts the foot-hills, and at dif- 
ferent points the precipitous mountains rise from 



VILLAGE OF PAPARA 209 

the bed of the lagoon, where the road-bed had to 
be made by blasting away a part of their firm 
foundation of volcanic stone. 

The traveler on the whole trip is never without 
the companionship of the branchless, slender, 
graceful cocoa-palms, with their terminal crown 
of giant leaves, clusters of blossoms, and nuts of 
all sizes and stages of maturity. A stately forest 
of cocoa-palms like those found on the coast of 
Tahiti is a sight that can not fail to interest and 
fascinate the Northerner fresh from zero weather, 
snow and ice. The straight, columnar trunks, 
with their sail-like terminal fronds and clusters 
of fruit in all stages of development from the 
blossom to the golden yellow of the ripe nut, are 
objects of study and admiration which create in 
the visitor a strong and lasting attachment for 
the tropics. There is no other spot on the globe 
where the tourist can see larger and more beau- 
tiful palm forests than on the circular road 
between Papeete and Papara. The cocoa-palm 
is queen here, as there is no other tree among its 
many neighbors that has succeeded in equaling 
it in height. The lofty, proud head of the palm 
has no competitor; it is alone in that stratum 
of air and looks down upon the plebeian 
trees beneath with a sense of superiority, if not 
of scorn. For miles this road passes through 
magnificent forests of cocoa-palms, with a heavy 
undergrowth of guava, extending from the shore 

14 



210 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

high up the foot-hills and mountainsides. The 
cocoa-palm is fond of salt water and thrives best 
when its innumerable slender, long roots can im- 
bibe it from the briny shore. 

The pandanus tree is even more partial to a 
soil impregnated with salt water. On this drive 
this tree is frequently seen, and in preference at 
the very brink of the coast, with the butt-end of 
the trunk high in the air, resting on a colonnade 
of numerous powerful, slightly diverging roots. 
Another tree omnipresent on this drive is the 
pauru tree, with its large leaves and charming 
cream-yellow, salver-shaped flowers. This tree 
loves the dark, shady jungles, where its tortuous 
branches mingle freely with the dense under- 
growth and climbing plants. 

The views that present themselves on this drive 
at every turn are simply bewitching and vary with 
every curve of the road. The gentle ocean 
breeze that fans the flushed face of the raptured 
traveler is lost when the road leaves the coast 
and plunges into a primeval forest, when 

Gradual sinks the breeze 
Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 
Is heard to quiver through the closing wood. 

Thomson. 

As the carnage emerges from the dark shades 
of the forest into the dazzling sunlight in full 
view of the near-by ocean again. 






OS 

w 

o 

o 
i— i 

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H 
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O 



o 

2 

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h 

i— i 

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VILLAGE OF PAPARA 211 

The winds, with wonder whist, 

Smoothly the waters kiss'd, 

Whispering new joys to the mild ocean. 

Milton. 

Every turn of the wheel on this winding road 
brings new delights. The views of mountains 
and ocean, the strange trees and flowers, the 
childlike natives and their dusky, naked children, 
the quaint villages, the turbulent mountain 
streams and the diminutive cataracts and water- 
falls, framed in emerald green on the mountain- 
sides, enchant the eye and stimulate the mind 
every moment. These little waterfalls have ex- 
cavated the hardest rocks and have chiseled out, 
in the course of centuries, crevices and caves of 
the strangest designs. 

The floral wealth of Tahiti is immense. Mr. 
McDaniel, of Los Angeles, Cal., during a several- 
months' visit to the island, analyzed and classi- 
fied two thousand different kinds of plants. Some 
of the flowers are gorgeous, others yield a sweet 
perfume which is diffused through the pure air, 
imparting to it the balmy character for w T hich it 
has become famous. An acquaintance with these 
flowers suggests : 

Were I, O God, in churchless lands remaining, 
Far from all voice of teachers or divines, 
My soul would find, in flowers of thy ordaining, 
Priests, sermons, shrines. Shakespeare. 

At a sudden turn of the road a vista is disclosed 



212 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

that defies description. In the open roadway, 
brilliantly illuminated by the noonday sun, in the 
distance, a flame-tree, with its flowers of fire, 
dazzles the eyes, and its grandeur and beauty 
increase as we approach it, while, in a few 
moments, what appeared as an apparition is 
behind us, and the tension of vision is relieved by 
a long, restful look over the limitless expanse of 
the blue sea. I have seen the flame-tree in dif- 
ferent countries, but the sight of this one, with its 
magic surroundings, made a picture of exquisite 
beauty which forcibly recalled the lines : 

The spreading branches made a goodly show, 
And full of opening blooms was ev'ry bough. 

Dryden. 

The numerous villages of land-crabs met on 
this drive afford amusement for the stranger, 
unfamiliar with this inhabitant of the coast in 
the tropics. The land-crabs have evidently a 
well-organized government in each community. 
Among the most important officials are the sen- 
tinels, who are always on duty, when the inhab- 
itants of the village have left their underground 
habitations, to give timely notice of impending 
danger. With the approach of man, the whole 
colony is on the alert. As a matter of safety, 
the land-crab does not stray far away from its 
subterranean home. When these animals are out 
in the open they are never caught napping. Their 
large, exophthalmic eyes are never idle, and the 



VILLAGE OF PAPARA 213 

instant danger threatens they speed to their place 
of safety. If you have enough patience to wait, 
you will find, sooner or later, two large staring 
eyes on a level with the hole where the animal 
disappeared. The land-crab is cautious, constant- 
ly on the lookout, and, on the first signal of 
danger, makes a rush for his or somebody else's 
hole. 

A short distance from Papeete is a truck gar- 
den managed by Chinamen. This enterprise, the 
only one I noticed on the drive, demonstrates well 
what the soil of Tahiti is capable of producing 
in the way of growing vegetables. It is an ideal 
vegetable garden, weedless, and verdant with all 
kinds of vegetables. The foreign population of 
the city is supplied from here with lettuce, aspar- 
agus, cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, 
turnips and melons of the choicest quality. The 
natives have no use for vegetables and make no 
attempts to raise them for the market. The 
guava shrub is found everywhere. It has infested 
the country ,weed-like, and its golden fruit is not 
appreciated by the natives ; only a very small part 
of the fruit is gathered for making jelly, one of 
the few articles of export. 

This is the part of the island where the vanilla- 
bean is most extensively cultivated. A vanilla 
plantation is a jungle in which the bean thrives 
best. In the thick woods all along the road, the 
climbing bean is seen trailing up the shrubs and 



214 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

trees, often to a height of twenty feet. At the 
time of my visit the blossoms had disappeared 
and the green beans had reached a length of 
about four inches, half their length when they are 
ripe. A patient and prolonged search made for 
a flower was finally rewarded by the finding of a 
belated bud which, on being placed in water, ex- 
pandecj into a flower during the night, affording 
me an opportunity to study its anatomy. 

Three small villages, Faaa, Punaauia and Paea, 
are passed on the way from Papeete to Papara, 
and, like all other villages, each of them had 
its own government school, a Catholic and a 
Protestant church, and, connected with these, two 
parochial schools. The compulsory education in- 
troduced into the island applies to children from 
six to sixteen years of age. The churches are 
well attended, but I was informed by a German, 
who has resided in Tahiti for thirtv vears, that 
the people attend service more as a matter of 
amusement than with any intention of obtaining 
spiritual benefit. 

Nearly all of the village shops are kept by 
Chinamen, and it is needless to say that these 
shrewd foreigners take undue advantage of the 
simple, trusting natives, in all of their business 
transactions. Much of the hard-earned money of 
the natives finds its way into the capacious 
pockets of these enterprising Orientals. 

We reached Papara toward evening, and, when 



VILLAGE OF PAPARA 215 

we came in sight of the chiefery, were deeply 
impressed with the beauty of the location. Palm 
trees, flowering shrubs and garden flowers adorn 
the spacious grounds in front and all around the 
ancient mansion which is perched on an elevated 
plateau adjoining the large and beautiful stream 
of crystal mountain water, and facing the placid 
lagoon. An immense double war-canoe was at 
anchor in the river. It is now used as a fishing- 
boat by one of the sons of the chief, when he 
desires to catch the bonita outside of the lagoon. 
It takes seven men to manage this giant Canoe, 
by means of paddles. 

In front of the w r ide veranda of the one-story 
house is an ornamental tree which spreads its 
branches at least twenty feet in all directions. 
As it was in full bloom at the time of my visit, 
it added much to the beauty and comfort of the 
immediate surroundings in front of the house. 

The rooms of the mansion are large, and brim- 
ful of local antiquities and old furniture imported 
from Europe, which impart to them a coziness 
and charm which have been greatly appreciated 
and gratefully remembered by many a welcome 
visitor. It is in a house dike this, presided over by 
the chief of Papara and his charming family, that 
one can experience what genuine, unselfish hos- 
pitality means. 

Twelve servants, men and women, take 
care of the house, the family and the visitors. 



216 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Most of these were born on the place, and some 
of them, very old now, were in the service of the 
grandfather of the present chief. The relation 
between master and servants in this house is a 
very pleasant one. The servants are looked upon 
and treated rather as relatives than employes. 
Their pay is small, but they are given all the 
comforts of a home. 

Word had been sent ahead from Papeete an- 
nouncing our visit, for the purpose of securing 
for us the rare pleasure of partaking of a gen- 
uine native dinner. A little pig was roasted 
underground, and chickens w r ere boiled in the 
milk of the cocoanut, exquisite dishes, which, 
with excellent coffee, French bread, and a variety 
of luscious tropical fruit, made up a dinner which 
it would be impossible to duplicate in any of the 
large cities of the continents. 

The village of Papara is a most interesting 
place to visit. Besides the magnificent scenery, 
one finds here many native huts, and the town 
hall is a large, airy structure, built of bamboo 
sticks and covered with a thatched roof. Near 
the village are the grotto and cave, which enjoy 
a local reputation, and are well worth seeing by 
the visitor. 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 

The sun's rim dips ; the stars rush out : 

At one stride comes the dark; 

With far-heard whisper o'er the sea; 

Off shot the spectre bark. Coleridge. 

The day had been hot and sultry. From a 
cloudless sky, the tropical sun shot down, without 
mercy, his arrows of heat, against which the 
lightest and most porous headdress, umbrella, 
roof and shade afforded but inadequate protection. 
Man and beast were listless, perspiring, careful 
to make no unnecessary exertion. The green, 
succulent foliage bowed under the oppressive 
heat, and even the gayest of the flowers drooped 
their proud heads in homage to the fierce 
king of the serene blue sky. The very at- 
mosphere quivered in convulsive movements, 
and the intense light, reflected from the surface 
of the sleeping ocean and the white city, dazzled 
and blinded those who ventured to go out into 
the streets. The little capital city of Papeete, 
nestled on the plateau between the harbor and 
the foot of towering mountains, half hidden 
among the tropic trees, was at rest ; market and 
streets deserted, business houses closed, and the 
wharf silent and lifeless. The numerous misera- 
ble curs in the streets sought shelter in the shade, 
lying in a position affording most perfect relaxa- 

217 



218 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

tion, with protruded, blue, saliva-covered tongues, 
righting the heat by increasing the respiratory 
movements to the utmost speed. The numer- 
ous half-wild pigs in the streets, with paralyzed 
tails and relaxed bristles, buried themselves as 
deeply as possible in the nearest mud-pool, and 
with eyes closed, submitted passively to the fiery 
rays of the midday sun. The roaming chickens, 
from bald chicks a few days old to the ruffled, 
fatless veterans of questionable age, suspended 
their search for rare particles of food with which 
to satisfy their torturing sense of hunger, and 
simply squatted where the heat overcame them, 
in the nearest shady place, there to spend the 
enforced siesta with bills wide open and the dry, 
blue tongues agitated by the rapid and violent 
breathing. The birds of the air ceased their frolic ; 
their song was silenced, and they took refuge in 
trees with thickest foliage. Men, women and 
children, rich and poor, merchant and laborer, 
were forced to suspend work and play, and seek, 
in the shadow of their homes or near-by trees, 
protection against the onslaught of the burning 
rays of the sun. Such is the victory of the sun 
of the tropics. He demands unconditional sur- 
render on the part of every living thing. He 
knows no compromise, as he is sure of victory as 
long as his victim is in a favorable strategic posi- 
tion. This was the case on the day of which I 
speak. As the rays of the sun became more and 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 219 

more oblique, and the invisible great fan of the 
land-breeze was set in motion, wafting down 
from the high mountain peaks a current of cool 
air, the city woke up from its midday slumber. 
The sun had lost his fiery power. He was re- 
treating from the field of combat, and approach- 
ing in the distance the rim of the placid ocean. 
The monarch of the day, so near his cool, watery 
couch, laid aside his mask of fire and smiled 
upon the vanishing world with a face beaming 
with happiness and peace. 

The sun was set, and Vesper, to supply 
His absent beams, had lighted up the sky. 

Dryden. 

It was an evening bright and still 
As ever blush'd on wave or bower, 
Smiling from heaven, as if naught ill 
Could happen in so sweet an hour. 

Moore. 

The last act of the retiring monarch of the day 
revealed his incomparable skill as a painter. 
He showed discretion in the selection of the time 
to demonstrate to the best advantage his match- 
less artistic skill. He chose the evening hour, 
when the soul is best prepared to take flight from 
earthly to heavenly things. He waited until man 
and beast had laid aside the burden and cares of 
the day, and were in a receptive, contemplative 
mood to study and appreciate the paintings sus- 
pended from the paling blue dome of the sky. 



220 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

He waited until he could hide himself from view 
behind the bank of fleecy clouds moving lazily in 
the same direction. Then he grasped the invis- 
ible palette charged with colors and tints of 
colors unknown to the artists of this world, and 
seized the mystic, gigantic brush when 

The setting sun, and music at the close, 
As the last taste of sweets is sweeted last, 
Writ in remembrance more than things long past. 

Shakespeare. 

The time for this magic work was short. The 
moment the passing clouds veiled his face it 
began. From the very beginning it became ap- 
parent that the hidden artist exhibited super- 
human skill. The most appreciative and scrutin- 
izing of his admirers felt powerless to compre- 
hend and much more to give a description of the 
panoramic views which he painted with such 
rapid succession on the sky, clouds and the dull 
surface of the dreamy, listless ocean. With in- 
tense interest we watched the constantly varying, 
artistic display, felt keenly the shortcomings of 
human art, and realized, to the fullest extent, the 
force and truth of 

Who hath not proved how feebly words essay- 
To fix one spark of beauty's heavenly ray. 

Byron. 

All painters place the greatest importance upon 
a proper background for their pictures in order 




TWO PAPAYA TREES 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 221 

to give light and shade a strong expression. So 
does the sun. With a few strokes of the magic 
brush, the deep blue of the horizon was wiped 
out and replaced by the palest shade of blue, so 
as to bring forth, in bolder relief, the resplendent 
colors on the moving canvas of the clouds. The 
artist fringed the margins of the clouds with 
delicate lace of shining gold. Through clefts 
and rents in the clouds the smiling face of the 
painter peeped upon the beautiful evening be- 
yond. His work had only begun. In rapid turns 
the clouds were converted into a sheet of gold 
with a violet border that deepened into a vivid 
crimson hue. As the artist disappeared, inch by 
inch, under the limitless expanse of the ocean, 
he wiped out the brilliant colors on the canvas of 
clouds, and gilded the horizon with a sheet of 
gold, deepening his favorite color, yellow, into an 
orange hue, which remained unchanged until the 
approaching darkness threw a drapery of sombre 
black over the inspiring scene. Twilight shuns 
the tropics. Day lapses into night almost imper- 
ceptibly, and, with the setting of the sun, the 
earth is wrapped in darkness. There is no com- 
promise in the tropics, between the rulers of day 
and night. With the disappearance of the last 
rays of the sun, the pale blue dome of the sky is 
decorated with millions of nickering stars, cast- 
ing their feeble light upon land and sea through 
the immeasurable ethereal medium which sepa- 
rates heaven from earth. 



222 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

The sun has lost his rage ; his downward orb 
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth 
And vital lustre. Thomson. 

On the evening of which I speak, the short 
twilight foreshadowed the appearance of the 
heavenly advance-gnard proclaiming the coming 
of the Queen of Night. 

When the evening King gave place to night, 
His beams he to his royal brother lent, 
And so shone still in his reflected light. 

Dryden. 

Looking in the direction opposite from where 
the monarch of the day had disappeared, the 
cloudless sky brightened over the bare gray 
mountain-peak, and the stars, in joyful antici- 
pation of the approaching event, abandoned their 
stoic immobility and trembled in feverish excite- 
ment. An impressive silence reigned in the little 
city, broken now and then by the almost noise- 
less footsteps of half-naked, barefoot natives, or 
the clattering of the hoofs of a horse and hum- 
ming of the wheels of a passing cart, and, once 
or twice, by the whirr of the only automobile in 
the island, steered by an enterprising, prosperous 
French merchant. 

Nature awoke from her noonday slumber, the 
glossy leaves resumed their natural shape and 
freshness, the drooping flowers revived, ex- 
panded and exhaled their fragrance, perfuming 
the evening air. The birds had found shelter and 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 223 

protection for the night in the leafy domes of 
the many beautiful shade and ornamental trees. 
It was solemn eveningtide, when the heart of 
man is most receptive for noble and pure impres- 
sions. It was the time to turn away the thoughts 
from the busy, selfish world and reflect upon the 
wonders of creation. It was the time to look 
upward to the calm, pale, blue sky, feebly illum- 
inated by the soft light of countless tiny lamps 
suspended by invisible cords from the limitless 
space above. It was the time to look beyond 
earthly things. It was the time to understand : 

The beauty of the world and the orderly arrangement 
of everything celestial makes us confess that there is 
an excellent and eternal nature, which ought to be 
worshiped and admired by all mankind. Cicero. 

We were speechless spectators of the passing 
and coming. Our thoughts were turned to the 
invisible hand that created the earth we inhabit 
and all of the heavenly bodies, and which directs 
their movements with infallible precision and un- 
failing regularity. We thought of things incom- 
prehensible to man, of things far beyond the 
grasp of the human mind, of things known only 
to the Almighty Lord, Creator of all things in 
heaven and earth. 

With our eyes fixed on the gateway of entrance 
of the Queen of Night, we patiently awaited her 
arrival, anxious, however, to catch the first 
glimpse of her beautiful face. No blare of trump- 



224 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

ets or bugle call announced her approach. She 
rose in the sky silently, resplendent in her own 
magic beauty, and her charms are always sweet- 
est when the nights are calm and peaceful. She 
combined beauty with two of the most attractive 
feminine virtues — modesty and gentleness. As 
we watched her regal entrance into the sky, the 
golden arch assumed the deep yellow hue of the 
precious metal it resembled, and, in a few mo- 
ments, the pale rim of her sweet face rose over 
the dark, bald mountain-peak, and ascended 
slowly and majestically, higher and higher, away 
from earthly things, on her journey through the 
pathless sky. This evening she appeared in 
perfect glory, permitting us to* look into her full, 
calm face. Her consort, the sun, had just dis- 
appeared, leaving behind him a golden crescent 
on the opposite horizon. She was following his 
pathway and had taken possession of his throne 
for the night. The departing sun and the as- 
cending moon were in strange and pleasing con- 
trast at the threshold of that beautiful night. 

O! belle nuit ! mit preferable au jour! 
Premier nuit a amour consacree ! 
En sa faveur, prolonge ta duree, 
Et du soleil retarde le retour. 

De Malfilatre. 

The moon loves to reign in peace and quietude. 
She abhors the tumult of the battle-field and the 
struggles of man for wealth and honor. She is 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 225 

the friend of the wounded, the sick and the poor ; 
and the guardian angel of all those in need of 
repose. As she ascended heavenward, the rip- 
pling ocean became a great mirror, a mirror 
worthy to reflect her beautiful face. The soft, 
pale light streaming out from the silvery orb 
cast phantom-like shadows in the forests, parks 
and streets. Solemnity reigned supreme. 

On seas, on earth, and all that in them dwell, 
A death-like and deep silence fell. Waller. 

Happy the people who respect and love the 
Queen of Night and her reign of peace and rest ! 
Charming Queen ! Retard your journey, pro- 
long your peaceful mission for the well-being of 
your loyal subjects so much in need of your 
calming influence and of your soft, soothing 
light ! To such petitions the goddess of the sky 
has only one inflexible reply: "The universe is 
my kingdom, the earth you live in is only one 
of my smallest possessions. I must remain loyal 
to all of my realms." 

This evening in Tahiti had another and still 
more sublime entertainment in store for us, a 
spectacle which can be seen in perfection only in 
the tropics, and, I imagine, Tahiti is the stage 
more perfect than any other in the world for the 
display of one of nature's grandest exhibitions. 
The soft light of the rising moon and the myriads 
of tiny, flickering stars furnished the illumina- 

15 



226 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

tion; the mountains, forests, harbor and ocean, the 
stage. We were roused from our reverie by 
distant peals of thunder. Looking in the direc- 
tion whence these reports came, we saw black, 
angry clouds hovering about the mountain-peaks 
to the south and east of Papeete. The clouds 
were too heavy for the rarified mountain air and 
soon began to descend slowly but steadily until 
they wrapped the towering summits in a cloak 
of sombre black. The mountain-peaks, which 
but a short time before were caressed by the 
gentle, silvery light of the moon, were now com- 
pletely obscured. Where did these clouds come 
from? No one could tell. No one could mis- 
take their movements. They appeared to have 
had only one object in view, and that was to em- 
brace the mountain-range well below the tree- 
line. Smaller clouds, fragments from the main 
mass, moving more swiftly in the evening air, 
impelled by the land-breeze, floated away from 
the dark wall enveloping the mountainsides, 
which seemed to possess some subtle, magnetic 
power buried in the immense piles of volcanic 
rocks. At short intervals, great zigzag chains of 
lightning shot through these dark clouds, mo- 
mentarily lighting up the dark, unbroken, prime- 
val forest. These dazzling, blinding flashes of 
lightning were in strong contrast with the soft, 
tropic moonshine that remained outside of the 
limits of the aerial sea of clouds, which had com- 




PICKING COCOANUTS 



AN EVENING IN TAHITI 227 

menced to discharge a drenching rain. Fleecy 
little wandering clouds now flecked the horizon, 
strangely and variously painted by the moon- 
light, shortly before the midnight hour. Through 
fissures in these fleeting, snowy clouds, the moon 
and stars often peeped at the grand spectacle 
which was being enacted on the stage below. 
Lightning and thunder came nearer and nearer 
with the approach of the weeping mass of clouds. 
The bolts of lightning must have found their 
marks with unerring precision in the crags and 
forest underneath the roof of dense clouds, as 
from there came at short intervals deafening 
peals of thunder reverberating through the calm 
evening air far out over the surface of the 
sleeping ocean, where the reverberations died out 
in a faint rumbling. 

This majestic but awesome sight was of short 
duration. The pouring rain relieved the clouds 
of their abnormal weight, and, balloon-like, they 
rose, clearing the mountain-range, which then 
again made its appearance in the soft, bewitching 
moonlight of the tropics. Lightning and thunder 
retreated with the disappearance of the clouds. 
The atmosphere was cool and refreshing, purified 
by the pouring rain and the furious electric storm. 
At this stage of the nightly display in our imme- 
diate vicinity, in front of the veranda of the little 
hotel, in full view of the now deserted stage, 
from the clear, cloudless sky, gigantic drops of 



228 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

rain fell, sparkling in the magic moonlight Uke 
diamonds that had become loosened and had 
fallen from the jeweled crown of the Queen of 
Night, whose throne had then reached the zenith 
of the horizon. 

Instead of wishing for an encore after such a 
brilliant act given by nature's artists, we took 
one more and last look at the serene, smiling, full 
face of the moon, and were then prepared to 
acknowledge reverently : 

What else is nature but God, and divine reason, 
residing in the whole world and its parts. 

Seneca. 



IORANA ! 

The South Sea Islanders have beautiful words 
of welcome with which they meet the stranger. 
The Samoan greets you with talofa; the Hawa- 
iian, with a clear, musical voice, welcomes you 
with aloha nut; and the Tahitian, with an open, 
friendly face and a smile, when he meets you, 
addresses you with that beautiful greeting, 
iorana. These euphonious words mean more 
than the words of our language intended for the 
same purpose ; they come from the heart and are 
addressed to the heart much more so than our 
"Welcome," "How do you do?" "How are you?" 
or "I am glad to see you." These Polynesian 
words are not only words of welcome, but carry 
with them the best wishes of the natives for the 
stranger ; they signify not only a formality, but 
also express a sincerity which is so often lacking 
in our conventional meetings with friends and 
strangers. The visitor who remains long enough 
in Tahiti to become acquainted with the natives 
will find that their greeting, iorana, is verified 
by their actions. The natives, educated and 
ignorant, young and old, are polite, friendly and 
hospitable to a fault. They are fond of making 
little gifts to strangers, and if these are recip- 
rocated, they are really and honestly grateful. 
The people are charming, the island beautiful, 

229 



230 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

and nature's storehouse never empty of the 
choicest that the sea can supply and the soil 
can produce. Any one who has seen Tahiti, the 
Island Paradise, on leaving it, and ever after, 
in recalling his experiences and observations in 
this island of peace, rest, charms and pleasures, 
will give expression to his feelings by repeating 
to himself, 

Isle of Beauty! 
Absence makes the heart grow fonder : 
Isle of Beauty, fare thee well ! 

Bayly. 



the END 



ADDENDA 



TAHITI 



The waves that touch thy pebbly beach 

With soft, caressing hand; 
The scented breezes winging past 

Above thy favored land; 
The brilliant flowers, the glowing fruits, 

Close to thy bosom pressed, 
All, all are singing one sweet song, 

Whose soft refrain is, Rest ! 

The sunset brush that tints thy skies 

With wondrous, varied rays; 
The birds that fill thy woodland haunts 

With music's roundelays ; 
The sparkling streams meandering through 

Thy valleys ever blest, 
All, all are breathing one sweet song, 

Whose soft refrain is, Rest ! 

The twilight hour that floods the soul 

With waves of perfect calm, 
Then gives us to the Queen of Night, 

Who pours her soothing balm; 
The still lagoon with coral reefs 

Where beauty makes its nest, 
All, all are breathing one sweet song, 

Whose soft refrain is, Rest ! 

231 



232 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

Isle of Beauty! poets may 

Dip pens in wells of light, 
Or soar aloft on Fancy's wings 

In wild, aerial flight; 
But they can never voice thy charms, 

O Island of the Blest! 
"Whose very air is perfumed with 

The fragrance rare of Rest ! 

O Isle of Beauty! artists may 

Coax ever)- varied hue, 
To lay upon the canvas wide 

A portrait true of you ; 
But till they borrow heaven's power 

To paint thee, Island Blest, 
The task is vain, O Land of Peace, 

Whose every breeze sings Rest ! 

Where man knows all the blissful charm 

Of care-free, deep content ; 
Where life seems one long holiday 

In childish gladness spent; 
Where earth and air and sea and sky 

So close to God seem pressed; 
Ah, loath am I to turn from thee, 

Dear Land of Perfect Rest! 

Mary E. Griffin. 




ALLIGATOR PEAR TREE 



THE STORY OF 
ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI* 



I wish peace, and any terms prefer 
Before the last extremities of war. 

Dryden. 

In one of the far-off isles of the South Seas, 
in the garden-spot of the Pacific, in golden 
Tahiti, about the year 1848, when Victoria was 
a young queen and mother, when France was in 
the throes of a second revolution, when the 
United States, a young republic, was still on trial 
before the old world, there was enacted one of 
the most touching dramas history has ever 
recorded, and this among a people considered 
savages by the so-called civilized world, and 
almost unknown until discovered through the 
missionary fervor of a few priests. The place, 
a small island, only a speck on the map; the 
dramatis persona, France, England and Amer- 
ica, the hereditary chiefs of a people who for 
forty generations had known no other rulers, 
a weak, vacillating native queen, and a noble- 
hearted native woman who knew how to be at 
the same time a loyal subject, a skilled diplomat, 
and that rarer and more beautiful thing, a faith- 
ful friend. If you would hear a story of friend- 

*This chapter is the product of the fertile pen of Dr. Lucy Waite. 
Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mary Thompson Hospital, Chicago. 

233 



234 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

ship pure and undefiled, listen to the story of 
Ariitaimai of Papara, a Tahitian of noble birth, 
a child of Nature in its wildest and grandest 
aspect, rocked in a gigantic cradle of sea, sky 
and towering mountains, in a land of palm 
forests, where Nature has provided everything 
necessary to the life of her children, and where 
the pearls are the purest. If Cicero had known 
the story of Ariitaimai he would not have writ- 
ten in "De Amicitia :" "But where will you find 
one who will not prefer to friendship, public 
honors and power, one who will prefer the 
advancement of his friend in public office to 
his own? For human nature is too weak to 
despise power." But to understand this thrill- 
ing and eventful drama, we must listen first to 
the chorus reciting something of the history of 
this strange people, and of the position of 
woman in a land where suffrage societies are 
unknown, and where the story of the inequality 
of the sexes had never been told by book or 
priest. Tahiti, Matea and Moorea are known 
as the Windward Islands of the Society Group 
in the South Seas. The Leeward Islands com- 
prise the four kingdoms, Huahine, Borabora, 
Raiatea and Tahaa, together with some smaller 
islands, and are about one hundred and twenty 
miles from Tahiti. But it has always been in 
Tahiti, the gem of the Pacific, that the interest 
has been centered, and it was here that the 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 235 

struggle took place between the English and 
the French for supremacy in the South Seas. 

It was in 1769 that Captain Cook entered 
Matavai Bay on his first voyage to observe the 
transit of Venus. This spot is marked by a 
stone monument and has been known ever since 
as Point Venus. At this time Cook estimated 
the number of inhabitants at two hundred thou- 
sand. To-day, after the long contention between 
the French and English for supremacy, after 
the brave struggle of the natives against both 
for independence, after all the ravages made by 
the diseases introduced by foreigners, and 
after years of a fearful mortality caused by the 
enervating effect of civilization upon a people 
suited only to be children of Nature, this goodly 
number has been reduced to a pitiful eleven 
thousand. In fact, our so-called nineteenth 
century civilization has succeeded in practically 
exterminating a people who could produce a 
pearl among womankind, a rare and tender 
soul, such an one as English history does not 
give us, and France has produced but one, her 
own Jeanne D'Arc. 

The government of the island has always been 
by chiefs and chiefesses, no distinction of sex 
being made in laws of inheritance, the eldest 
born inheriting the rank and estates and all the 
authority which the title of chief conveys. 
Many of the chiefesses appear to have been 



236 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

exceedingly warlike, true Amazons, contending 
with neighboring chiefs for more authority and 
extensive possessions. Even as wives of the 
chiefs, women went to war to help fight the 
battles of their husbands and clans. It is 
reported of one of the Pomares who was of a 
peaceful disposition that in one hotly contested 
encounter he fled to a neighboring island, leav- 
ing his wife Iddeah to face the storm. History 
says that she was a great warrior and carried 
the contest to a successful issue for her husband 
and their possessions. It is recorded of another 
chief that he was not a warrior and left the 
active campaigning to his wife. So it will be 
seen that in the political life of Tahiti sex was 
not considered. Accident of birth settled the 
title, and the warlike spirit made the warrior, 
whether it resided in chief or chiefess. England 
took a hand in the island politics at a time when 
one of the weakest and most unpopular chiefs 
was warring for the supremacy, and by assisting 
and upholding his authority prolonged one of 
the most disastrous wars in the history of Tahiti. 
The Tahitians detested tyranny and the inso- 
lence of a single ruler, and in their tribal system 
of chiefs had a protection against despotism 
which the foreigners, by their advocacy of the 
cause of a special chief, afterwards Pomare I., 
destroyed. 

Before the invasion of the English, the hered- 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 237 

itary chief of each district held absolute sway 
in his own province. Questions of common 
interest were settled in the island councils by 
majority vote, and it was in these deliberations 
that the chiefs of Papara had for generations 
held the balance of political power. Politically, 
the change was disastrous. In olden times when- 
ever a single chief became arrogant and threat- 
ened to destroy the rest, all the others united to 
overthrow him and thus re-established the polit- 
ical equilibrium. 

Ariitaimai belonged to the Clan of Tevas, of 
the chiefery of Papara, and the family of Tati. 
She belonged to the clan which was ruled by 
Opuhara, the last of the heathen chiefs who 
went down in the conflict with Pomare II., 
who with the help of English guns was made 
absolute monarch of the island. This conflict 
between Opuhara and the English, because 
Pomare was only an instrument in their hands 
to accomplish the conquest of the island, is 
responsible for the bitter hatred of the genuine 
natives for the foreigners and the missionaries. 

Opuhara was considered the greatest warrior 
and hero of the Tevas, and his death, the result 
of a stratagem on the part of Pomare and the 
English missionaries, is considered by his people 
a veritable assassination. He fell by a shot fired 
by a native missionary convert. Tati, one of the 
under-chiefs of Papara, had been persuaded by 



238 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

the English to approach Opuhara to negotiate 
with him for submission. But Opuhara turned 
on him with scorn. "Go, traitor," he said; 
"shame on you ! you, whom I knew as my eldest 
brother, I know no more ; and to-day I call this 
my spear, 'Ourihere/ brotherless. Beware of it, 
for if it meet you hereafter, it meets you as a foe. 
I, Opuhara, have stood as Arii in Mona Temaiti, 
bowing- to no other Gods but those of my fathers. 
There I shall stand to the end ; and never shall 
I bow to Pomara or to the Gods forced on us 
by the white-faced man." With Opuhara per- 
ished the last hope of the native patriots to 
preserve a government of chiefs. His dying 
words were all that was left to his clan of the 
glory and power of Papara. "My children, 
fight to the last ! It is noon, and I, Opuhara, 
the H of Mona Temaiti, am broken asunder!" 
He fell a martyr to his belief in the heathen 
gods, and in the ancient inherited rights of his 
people : a tribal government. His followers 
have always firmly believed that Opuhara would 
have won the contest had not the missionaries 
brought their guns along with their Bibles. 

It was this belief that Ariitaimai inherited 
with the beautiful lands of Papara. She says in 
her memoirs : "I am told that Opuhara's spear, 
'Brotherless Ourihere,' is now in the Museum 
of the Louvre. Even in those days there were 
among all his warriors only two who could 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 239 

wield it. If the missionaries have sometimes 
doubted whether the natives rightly understood 
the truths and blessings of Christianity, perhaps 
one reason may be that the Tevas remember how 
the missionaries fought for Pomare and killed 
Opuhara." 

Marama, the mother of Ariitaimai, was a 
celebrated chiefess in her own right, the sole 
heir of Marama, the head chief of Moorea, the 
nearest island to Tahiti. She was a great heiress, 
and the last representative of the sacred families 
of these two islands. She was given in mar- 
riage, as a political compromise and at the spe- 
cial request of King Pomare, to Tati's son, the 
head chief of Tahiti. It was also agreed that 
all issue of the marriage should become the 
adopted children of Pomare, according to an 
ancient Tahitian custom. The family is a great 
institution in Tahiti and any one whose parents 
both by birth and adoption had been carried to 
the family Marae with offerings to the gods, 
enjoyed a rare social distinction. This Arii- 
taimai could claim, so from her birth she was 
looked upon by the islanders as an especially 
favored and much-to-be-treasured maiden. It 
may be that this great respect shown towards 
her by the entire people did much to mold her 
character. The Tahitian mother has little to say 
in regard to the training of her first-born, as 
this one is considered to belong to the family 



240 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

as a whole, and all questions of general interest 
are settled in family council. And so it was 
with Ariitaimai. She saw little of her mother, 
but was in constant touch with the family chiefs 
from whom, no doubt, she learned lessons in 
diplomacy, and from listening to their councils 
she acquired that rare good judgment which 
fitted her later to be the accepted advisor of her 
teachers. She mastered both the French and 
the English languages, and her memoirs show 
a wonderful knowledge of the literature of both 
countries, as well as a wide and comprehensive 
reading of classical authors. While Ariitaimai 
was growing to womanhood, the pride and spe- 
cial care of the chiefs of Papara, another maiden 
was receiving equal care and attention on a 
neighboring island. Aimata of Raiatea, the 
daughter of Pomare II., was only nine years 
old when her father died and she was given into 
the care of the head chief Uata, who was a good 
and learned man. 

These two young girls who were destined to 
play such an important role in the history of 
their country, grew up under much the same 
influences and developed characters as widely 
different as the antipodes. They saw each other 
only occasionally until Aimata's mother sent one 
day for Ariitaimai to make a long visit at the 
royal castle, as was the custom among the 
islanders, as Pomare had claimed her as his 




OS 

o 

I— I 



Q 

73 



H 

2 

W 
i— i 

o 

2 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 241 

adopted daughter according to the ante-natal 
contract. Here blossomed and grew the friend- 
ship which was destined later to save to Pomare 
IV. her throne, and to deliver Tahiti from a war 
which could only have resulted in the extermina- 
tion of the native population and the destruction 
of the island as an independent government. The 
real struggle between France and England for 
the possession of the island began in 1836, when 
two French priests landed at Tahiti to convert 
not the pagans to Christianity but Protestant 
Christians to the Roman faith. Aimata now 
become Pomare IV., promptly ordered their 
arrest and expulsion. The French priests made 
a protest to their government and Louis Philippe 
sent a frigate to Papeete, the harbor city, with 
an ultimatum, and the Queen was obliged to 
yield. The English consul and the missionaries 
contested the occupation of the French, and 
another frigate was sent to Tahiti. Queen 
Pomare now appealed to Queen Victoria and 
offered to submit to a British protectorate. She 
also sent a protest to the government of the 
United States, against allowing the French to 
forcibly occupy Tahiti. But the English Queen 
was busy with more important home affairs, and 
neglected the appeal from the little island so far 
away, and the protest to the United States was 
apparently ignored. By a lack of appreciation 
of the Queen's communication, the United States 

16 



242 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

lost the control of the gem of all the Pacific 
isles, and lost also a rare opportunity to aid 
and protect a brave people in their struggle for 
independence. This attitude of England and the 
United States left the contest to be settled 
between the natives and the French. After a 
desultory war lasting over four long, miserable 
years, with the advantage first on one side and 
then on the other, the French government decided 
to end the matter and sent two frigates to the 
island. The government had offered previously 
to this to place Pomare permanently on the 
throne under a French protectorate, but she 
would not consent to this, looking constantly for 
help from the English who had done so much 
for her father. So she left Tahiti, the scene of 
the contest, and fled to Raiatea to her own 
family for protection, while waiting for the help 
which never came. 

Ariitaimai, in her own beautiful home at Papara, 
pondered over the wretched state of her beloved 
country and her heart was sore both for her 
idolized friend and poor bleeding Tahiti. Was 
there no way out of this Slough of Despond into 
which the foreigners had plunged her unhappy 
country? She knew the temper of the island 
chiefs and that they had sworn to die fighting 
for the independence of their country. She 
remembered the fate of Tati, who had been 
branded a traitor with Opuhara's last breath 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 243 

because he counseled submission to the English, 
and she dared not propose to them any compro- 
mising measures. She looked out despairingly 
over the trackless sea, and appealingly up at the 
towering mountains which had been her com- 
panions during prosperity and adversity, but no 
answer came to her anxious questionings. Then 
suddenly, one day, word was brought to her by an 
old woman of her clan that two French frigates 
had landed in the harbor of Tahiti. She knew 
this meant the end, unless Queen Pomare could 
be persuaded to return to Tahiti and accept the 
offer of the French. The old crone who had 
brought her the news said to her: "Don't you 
know that you are the first in the island, and 
that it remains in your hands to save all this 
and your land?" Then Ariitaimai hesitated no 
longer, but hastened to the governor and told 
him what she had heard. He replied : "You have 
heard the truth. The colonel commanding the 
troops has heard of so many instances of insult 
given to the French that we have decided at last 
to go out and finish up the affair." This brusque 
answer aroused in Ariitaimai all the stored-up 
energy of years. She became immediately the 
diplomatic representative of her people, and 
begged the governor to give her a few days that 
she might see the chiefs and make at least an 
effort to avert the terrible havoc to lives and 
property which this would cause. Ariitaimai was 



244 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

well known to the governor, and although evi- 
dently amused that a young woman should take 
upon herself this difficult task, readily consented. 
Like two generals they sat down and talked over 
all the terms of the peace ; the governor agreeing 
to restore Pomare to her throne if she would 
return immediately, and to leave the chiefs in 
possession of their estates and control each of 
his own chiefery, all to be under the protection 
of the French flag. This, he said, they were will- 
ing to do, although the Queen had broken her 
written agreement with them, and by deserting 
her country and throne had absolved them from 
all obligations to her. Before the conclusion of 
the interview Ariitaimai had won the respect and 
admiration of the governor, and from that time 
on they worked together to bring about a peace- 
able settlement of the long and disastrous war. 
The journey which she was obliged to make in 
order to meet the chiefs in council was a long 
one, and while she was making her preparations 
the governor's own aid-de-camp arrived ready 
to accompany her, bringing the governor's 
horses and all necessary passports. She says in 
her memoirs : "I knew that my influence with 
the natives would be sufficient to save us from 
any trouble with them." Arrived at last at the 
principal native fort where the chiefs were assem- 
bled, her first act showed her the accomplished 
diplomat. She sent a trusty messenger for 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 245 

Nuutere, the one whose influence against peace 
she most feared, and who with the other chief, 
Teaatoro, practically controlled the situation. 
When he came out to see her she took him by 
the hand and said: "My object in coming here 
is to bring peace, and I have counted on you 
for the sake of old friendship to be my speaker 
in this trying instance." She quaintly adds: 
"He was very much perplexed at this," evidently 
not understanding why she could not speak for 
herself as she had often done before. But to 
her surprise Ariitaimai found the old chief very 
much broken in spirit and quite ready to listen 
to her arguments for peace, and she soon had 
his promise to speak for the acceptance of the 
governor's proposition. Human nature is very 
much the same the world over, whether encased 
in a brown skin or white. Nuutere called 
Teaatoro to him, and, after a hasty consultation, 
came over and whispered to Ariitaimai that 
Teaatoro would be all right. This practically 
settled the matter, but as in all political assem- 
blies the usual formalities must be gone through 
with and Nuutere called upon each one of the 
chiefs for his opinion. The speakers all teemed 
with love and admiration for my heroine and 
I can not refrain from making some quotations. 
Nuutere, after stating the object of the meeting, 
called upon Teaatoro to make the first speech. 
He said: "We are all as one person in this 



246 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

meeting, and we have suffered together as 
brothers. We have heard what the object of 
this lone woman's visit amongst us is, solely 
for our good and that of our children. What can 
we say to this? We can only return her one 
answer, which is to thank her for the trouble 
and danger she has taken upon herself, for 
the peace she has brought, and she must return 
to the French commander with this our answer. 
We have been five months on the point of 
starvation. We lost a great many of our 
men at Tamavao. The best of our blood was 
spilled at Mahaena. At Piha-e-atata, our 
young men were slain. Our Queen left us in 
the midst of our troubles without the least sor- 
row for us. We have heard no more of the help 
which was promised us by Great Britain." An- 
other chief rose and said : "Ariitaimai, you have 
flown amongst us, as it were, like the two birds 
of Ruataa and Teena. You have brought the 
cooling medicine of vainu into the hearts of the 
chiefs. Our hearts yearn for you and we can 
not in words thank you; you have brought us 
the best of all goods, which is peace. You have 
done this when you thought we were in great 
trouble, and ran the risk of losing our lives and 
property. Your people will prove to you in the 
future that your visit will always remain in their 
memory." The old chief of her own district 
turned toward Ariitaimai and said only; "As 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 247 

you are my head, my eyes, my hands and my 
feet, what more can I say? What you have 
decided we accept and will carry out." One 
dissenting voice only was heard, a young chief 
who had but lately come into his possessions and 
was anxious to distinguish himself as a warrior. 
He called out in a loud voice : "Why have you 
decided upon this peace so soon? Tahiti is not 
broken asunder. W r e could play with the French 
until we could get aid of Great Britain, who has 
formally promised to help us through in this 
war. I think you have all done wrong." But 
the young man had his lesson to learn and it was 
promptly taught him by Ariitaimai's spokesman. 
The spirit of young America is not appreciated 
in Tahiti, where reverence for age and worship 
of the ancestors is a vital part of the native pagan 
religion. Nuutere turned on the young man 
and asked : "Where were you, that consider 
yourself such a fighting man, in the fights which 
have already happened? I have never perceived 
you ahead of the others. You do not excel the 
youngest of our men in all of these battles, 
What are you known as in the annals of the 
country which allows you to get up and speak 
when your chiefs have already given the word?" 
Ariitaimai set out immediately on her return 
trip, this time escorted by ten of the chiefs. 
Although they made all possible haste the time 
had already expired before they reached the 



248 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

governor's headquarters, and preparations were 
being made to attack one of the native forts, the 
officers having concluded that her errand had 
been a failure. The governor, seeing her at a 
distance, rode out to meet her and helped her 
from her horse. He asked her anxiously in 
Tahitian, "Is it peace?" and she replied that it 
was peace and that everything was all right with 
the chiefs. He held her hand as he said with 
great feeling: "The Tahitians should never for- 
get you ; but your work is not finished. You 
must now go to Raiatea and bring us back the 
Queen." So Ariitaimai started on her second 
and more difficult errand. At first Queen Pomare 
refused to receive her, sending word that she 
was told that she had gone over to the French ; 
but later she granted her an interview in which 
she cried very much, upbraiding her friend for 
the stand she had taken, and accusing her of 
betraying her interests to the French. 

The Queen then sent for the chiefs of her 
own family with whom she had taken refuge, 
and, after a prolonged conference, they advised 
her not to return. She said to Ariitaimai: "I 
trust to the word of Great Britain, who has 
promised us to send ships and men to fight our 
cause and to keep us an independent state, and 
I will not return and be under the French." So 
after repeated pleading poor Ariitaimai was 
obliged to return to the governor with Pomare's 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 249 

answer. He was much disappointed but said as 
the chiefs of Tahiti had agreed to peace and as 
he had nothing to do with the chiefs of Raiatea 
they must decide on another monarch, and 
offered to make Ariitaimai queen of Tahiti in 
Pomare's place. But this the faithful friend 
would not listen to, and begged the governor to 
allow her again to see Pomare, as she believed 
that when she had had time to think the matter 
over she would change her mind. To this the 
governor very reluctantly consented, as he was 
entirely out of patience with Pomare, and would 
much have preferred to make Ariitaimai queen, 
which could have been done with great pro- 
priety, as she was at that time the head chiefess 
of the island. After a stormy trip she arrived 
again at Raiatea and this time was fortunate 
enough to find her friend Aimata alone, the 
chiefs having gene to an assembly to consult 
over the affairs of their own island. This time 
our faithful ambassadress did not hasten her 
visit. She renewed and strengthened the ties 
of friendship which had bound them together 
since their early girlhood, and she records in 
her memoirs that they had a beautiful visit 
together before any mention was made of the 
real object of her coming. The charming way 
in which she speaks in her memoirs of Pomare's 
flight shows the tenderness of her affection 
for her friend. She says, calling her by her 



250 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE 

girlhood name : 'The unfortunate Aimata had 
troubles of every sort, domestic, political, 
private and public, until at last the missionaries 
English and French, fought so violently for con- 
trol of her and the island that she was fairly 
driven away." With all her acutcness and learn- 
ing in other matters, she seems to have had no re- 
alization of the true character of the woman she 
so beautifully idealized. She still saw in the Queen 
the qualities she loved in the young girl, and 
her affection blinded her to the defects in her 
friend's character which entirely unfitted her for 
the position she occupied. Events do not move 
as rapidly in Tahiti as in America, and our young 
diplomat, having the governor's promise to await 
her return, took her own time. She remained 
with the Queen two months and had the satis- 
faction of returning home with her promise to 
sail for Tahiti as soon as her favorite schooner 
Ana could be made ready. But, before sailing, 
another idea took possession of the unreasonable 
woman and she sent word to the Tahitian chiefs 
that as the English had brought her to Raiatea 
she would return only in an English ship, and 
demanded that one be sent to fetch her. 

This unexpected and preposterous demand 
plunged poor Ariitaimai into the deepest grief. 
For the first time a note of complaint of her 
friend appears in her memoirs. The French 
governor laughed at the demands of Pomare and 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 251 

again offered the throne to Ariitaimai, and 
argued long to prove to her that it was her duty 
to accept it. Where in history is the woman who 
would not now have felt that she had exhausted 
all the demands of friendship, who would not 
by this time have been tempted by the dazzling 
prospect of a throne, upheld by a powerful gov- 
ernor who had become her devoted friend and 
admirer, to be surrounded by chiefs who had 
already accepted her leadership, and who, for 
years, had held her position among them as 
chief ess as a sacred trust? But no ambitious 
dreams disturbed the clear judgment of this 
simple-minded woman. She had set herself a 
task and her only ambition was to accomplish it. 
Not for one moment did the loyal woman waver 
in her devotion to her friend. She refused abso- 
lutely to entertain a thought of the queenship, 
and retired to her country home almost in 
despair. She says very simply in her memoirs : 
"We then remained at home in great trouble 
and did not know what was to be done next. 
The governor on several occasions offered to 
make me the sovereign of the island in place of 
Pomare, which, however, I could not entertain." 
It is in this simple and childlike manner she 
describes all the events in this perplexing situa- 
tion. Not by one word does she anywhere inti- 
mate that she is doing anything extraordinary 
or praiseworthy or more than her simple duty. 



252 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE 

She was not allowed to remain long inactive. 
Word came to her that the governor and chiefs 
were getting very restless and impatient at the 
unsettled state of the island politics and had de- 
cided not to negotiate further with the Pomares ; 
and, moreover, that a document to this effect had 
been already drawn up and practically agreed 
upon. This roused her again to see the gov- 
ernor ; and this time Fate put a powerful weapon 
in her hands. Just as she was leaving her home 
an old native preacher came along and secretly 
gave her a letter from her beloved Aimata. She 
wrote that she was sorry that she had not come 
back when she promised, that she was much 
distressed at the news from Tahiti, that she was 
an unhappy woman and, if not too late, she would 
surely come back if her faithful friend would 
come for her. Happy Ariitaimai fairly flew to 
the governor. "What after all if it should be too 
late ! She had never gone to the governor with 
so much fear and trepidation, and her fears were 
in no way lessened by his reception of her request 
that she be allowed to go once more to Raiatea 
and make a last effort to bring back the Queen. 
This request for the first time irritated the gov- 
ernor toward her. He said : "Have you not done 
enough for the Pomares that you should con- 
tinue to go down to fetch them ?" and he showed 
her the document which she had heard of but 
which was much worse than she supposed, as it 



THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 253 

proposed to* break up the act of protectorate 
that had been already made and distinctly stated 
that as Ariitaimai had refused to be made queen 
he would make the island a French colony at 
once. But with that precious letter in her bosom 
she would not be thwarted in her purpose, and 
did not leave the governor until she had received 
his very grudging permission to see Pomare and, 
if she consented to return, to take her to Moorea 
and let him know. With this she was obliged 
to be contented. More she could not accomplish 
without divulging the secret of her letter, and 
this, she argued, would be disloyal to her friend ; 
for was it not a secret letter sent to her at great 
risk? No, she would accomplish her purpose 
without humiliating her Queen. Pomare should 
return at the request of the governor without 
losing aught of her queenly dignity. 

And now this little drama draws rapidly to a 
close. Ariitaimai made her third trip to Raiatea 
and accompanied Pomare to Moorea, and sent 
word to the governor that he would find them 
there. Obedient to this gently expressed com- 
mand of his ambassadress, the governor very 
courteously went to Moorea in person to receive 
the Queen and bring her back to her home and 
throne. In the same dispassionate style Ariitai- 
mai tells of the homeward journey: "As we all 
went on board a salute was fired. We sailed 
around the island, flying the protectorate flag at 
the fore, to inform the people of these islands 



254 THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI 

that their Queen had returned. We then con- 
tinued our route for Papeete and on arriving 
there the forts from the shore saluted the flag"." 
But O ! the irony of Fate ! As they entered the 
harbor what a sight met the eyes of the poor 
Queen ! Both British and American ships were 
anchored there, having come at last in answer 
to her appeals, but only in time to see her placed 
on her throne by the grace of the hated French. 
But peace had been bought too dearly to be 
broken now even by this vacillating queen, and 
the British and American officers, seeing the 
situation, had the good sense to assist in the gen- 
eral festivities celebrating the long-looked-for 
peace. The memoirs conclude with this simple 
statement : "The Queen remained several hours 
on board the steamer as the governor wished the 
natives to see that the Queen had really come 
back. There were soldiers in line on shore to 
receive us and we were conducted to the gov- 
ernor's house. The peace of the island was then 
decided upon. On arriving at the governor's 
house we found all the commanders of the troops 
and vessels there and before them I was thanked 
by Governor Bruat for what I had done for my 
country." 

When a world of men 

Could'not prevail with all their oratory 

Yet hath a woman's kindness overruled. 

Shakespeare. 



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